Don't Knock It Till You Try It
by Project Deathstar
Summary: Sora, Riku, and Roxas all get placed in Shinra military programs opposite of what they wanted. But hey, new experiences are good, right? Well... maybe not for these three.
1. Chapter 1: Well This is Unexpected

Chapter 1

"Mom, I'm home!"

Sora closed the front door behind him and dropped his backpack at the foot of the stairs. He cycled through the day's mail he brought in until he found the envelope he was looking for;

To: Sora Fair

From: Shinra Academy

Sora grinned as he excitedly ripped open the letter. His eyes scanned the print as he walked into the kitchen and got a soda out of the fridge. As he opened the can and took a sip, he immidiately spit it out when he read the section of the letter that was most important.

"WHAT?"

Sora dropped the letter onto the counter and grabbed the phone, quickly dialing a number and took a swig from his drink as he waited for the other line to pick up. He heard a cough and a weak attempt to fake a congested voice.

_Sorry Sora, I'm too sick for you to bring me the assignments I missed. I don't want you to be infected. _

"Riku, I know your faking it," deadpanned Sora.

Sora heard his best friend laugh from the other end.

_I can't get anything past you can I?_

"Only because I've known you since we were in diapers," Sora chuckled. "Who is she?"

_Her name's Lulu, she's 25 years old, and she has the nicest pair of-_

"Whoa, whoa," Sora interupted. "Did I hear that right? _25 years old?_"

_A fake ID and good looks do me wonders my friend. _

Sora rolled his eyes. "You're such a slut, Riku.

_Jealous, are we?_

Sora let out an annoyed sigh. Yes, he was jealous. He was jealous that Riku excelled ahead of him in every class at school, especially sports, without actually having to try. He was jealous that Riku was able to successfuly bed any young woman he wanted while he couldn't gather the courage to even talk to a girl without screwing up. But he would never admit this. Riku was practically a brother to Sora, and he wouldn't let his own insecurities ruin a friendship that lasted for years.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," said Sora.

_Well, I have pictures if you want to see what helps me sleep at night-_

"Ugh, not what I meant!" Sora exclaimed quickly. "Listen, do you mind if I come over to your place?"

_Sure man, Roxas is coming over too. Let me just take out the trash real quick. _

Sora groaned and hung up the phone. He hated it when Riku or any other guy talked about women like that. To him, they deserve to be treated with respect, not as objects.

As he finished the rest of his drink, he noticed a note on the counter.

Working late tonight, leftovers in the fridge.

-Mom

Sora ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. At least he didn't have to tell his mom the news anytime soon.

As he got into his car and drove to Riku's house, he couldn't help but worry about how Riku will react to the situation. Their whole plan was botched. They worked their whole lives to try and get into the same program and now, they were gonna get separated.

He parked the car on Riku's driveway, being sure to make room for Roxas when he gets there. Sora walked up to the door and was about to knock, when he heard a voice on the intercom above the doorbell.

"Door's open!"

Sora pulled down on the handle and walked through the hallway and into the kitchen, where he found his silver haired playboy friend sitting at the table, in a bathrobe, reading the play _Loveless_ and sipping from a Coke can. He looked up from his reading and greeted his friend with a warm smile.

"Sora! Help yourself to anything you want. Roxas should be here in a few minutes."

Sora smirked as he grabbed a Dr. Pepper and a leftover slice of pizza from the fridge as he joined Riku at the table.

"Since when were you into plays?" Sora asked.

"Since Mr. Rhasphodos practically jammed this one into our skulls in English class," replied Riku as he held up his copy of _Loveless _for Sora to see. "It's actually pretty good, except it has no ending."

"What do you mean no ending?" Sora questioned as he opened the can of Dr. Pepper.

"The fourth act is missing," Riku sighed. "I guess the publisher lost it or something."

"Yet that play still sells millions of copies," Sora concluded.

"Yeah. Hey, did you get your letter from Shinra back yet?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I don't know, I think my mail is on the counter. I'll check right now."

Riku got up and walked over to the counter and started to sort through his mail.

"So, what did your letter say? Did you make it into SOLDIER?"

"...No".

Riku suddenly dropped the mail. He scattered to find his Shinra letter in the pile and once he found it, he made his way back to the table with a shocked expression.

"No? What do you mean no?"

"No, as in I was accepted into Shinra, but rejected from SOLDIER," Sora sighed.

"But..." Riku hesitated. "But we were supposed to get into SOLDIER together."

"Gee, I had no freaking clue that was our plan for the past seven years of middle and high school," Sora replied sarcastically. "Apparently, my results from the personality quiz didn't fit the qualifications of being a SOLDIER."

"Then, what did you get placed in?"

"SeeD," muttered Sora.

"You mean the mercenary group?" asked Riku.

"The very same," sighed Sora.

"Well that's not so bad," assured Riku. "SeeD still gets to do some pretty badass stuff."

"Yeah, but the plan was to get into SOLDIER _together. _Me being placed in a program that can be hired to fight _against_ SOLDIER kind of defeats the purpose. Plus, my father was in SOLDIER. I feel like, if I can't follow his footsteps, I insult his memory."

"Sora, I'm sure your father would have been proud of you no matter what," said Riku as he opened his letter. "I'm positive you would make a great mercenary."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me," Riku interjected. "Just try to make the best of your situation."

Sora lookked down at the table and grinned. "Yeah, you're right Riku. I mean, I'm glad that out of the both of us, at least you got recruited in SOLDIER."

He looked up to see his friend reading his letter with a bewildered expression on his face. Sora's grin faded and was replaced with a concerned look.

"Riku?"

"I'm not in SOLDIER either."

"What?"

Riku looked up at Sora. "I got put in with the Turks."

"The Turks?"

"The black ops/espionage group," Riku groaned.

"Oh."

There was an akward pause in the air. Sora's eyes shifted as he tried to find the best thing to say to the downtrodded Riku.

"Well... espionage is cool. Working behind the scenes, orchestrating assasinations..."

"But I wanted to be in the front lines," interupted Riku. "I wanted to be regarded as a hero, and how is that supposed to happen if you have to stay in the shadows? In SOLDIER, everything you do is followed by the public, the people admire you for your deeds. But with the Turks, everything's classified. I mean, yeah, the Turks still get recognition, but only from those working with Shinra like teachers and officials. You can't share details of your exploits with friends and family, and no one thinks of the Turks as heroes like they do with SOLDIER. I doubt most people even know what a Turk is."

"What happened to trying to make the best of your situation?" asked Sora with a raised brow.

"That's easy for you to say! You're with the best mercenary organization in the world, at least you still get to be regarded by the public! My identity pretty much dies when I join the Turks! I'll become a nobody, another suit that can't be told apart from the others!"

Just then, Sora and Riku heard a knock at the door. Riku reached over towards the intercom button.

"Door's open!"

A spiky blond haired boy ran into the kitchen with a panicked expression etched into his features. He dropped a piece of paper onto the table between Sora and Riku.

"I got put in SOLDIER," Roxas stated in a frightened voice.

"Well at least that makes one of us," Riku grunted.

"Wh-what?" stuttered Roxas. "But you guys are practically bred for SOLDIER!"

"Apparently Shinra thinks otherwise," sighed Sora. "I got placed in SeeD."

"I'm a Turk," Riku said in a dead tone.

"Are you kidding me?" Roxas panicked. "I can't go into SOLDIER alone! I won't last a day without you guys there with me! Do you know what kind of tests they put you through the day you join?!"

"Okay, you know what?" exclaimed Sora. "We're all making too big of a deal about this! I mean, why don't we just give all these groups a try before we start complaining. Who knows? We might end up liking what we got placed in more than what we aspired to be in."

Roxas and Riku looked at eachother, then at Sora.

"You're right man," conceeded Riku. "I mean, we have the whole summer to prepare for this, don't we?"

"Yeah," agreed Roxas. "I could probably use this time to get into top condition. Though the screening process for SOLDIER still scares the hell out of me."

"That's the spirit," smiled Sora as he took a sip from his drink. "Too bad I didn't know I was gonna be in SeeD beforehand, otherwise I would have offered my services to people getting bullied as practice."

"Yeah," said Riku. "Good thing I have practice for spying from middle school, all the times I peeked into the girl's locker room."

The three friends laughed. This was either the start of something awesome, or something bound for mass chaos.

**A/N: I got this idea while walking to my car from school, and I figured I'd just roll with it. Basically, the story's about Sora, Roxas, and Riku's various misadventures in their respective organizations, eventually joining together to fight a common enemy. As I introduce more characters, I am open to suggestions as to who to put in which group. Unti then, just read and review. **


	2. Chapter 2: Latin and Playlists

Chapter 2

"Hey, welcome back to Destiny Islands AM!"

Sora reluctantly opened his eyes from the peaceful abyss of sleep and gazed at the radio alarm clock that disturbed his slumber.

8:15

Sora groaned and rolled over opposite of the clock. Why did he need to be up this early on a summer day again?

"Alright, since it's the last day of summer vacation for most of you kids out there, we're gonna have a Top 100 marathon..."

Sora bolted up. Last day of summer? Today was the day!

Sora jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom to take a shower. After that, he got dressed into a black button up short sleeve shirt and red cargo shorts, made his bed, and went around the room to make sure everything he needed was packed. As he loaded the last of his belongings into his suitcase, he stopped and picked up a framed photograph from his nightstand.

In the picture were three people. One was a tiny four year old Sora, whose hair wasn't quite as spiky back then as it was now, a young, beautiful brunette woman with a pink dress and bow; Sora's mother, Aerith, and a handsome young man with spiky, messy black hair, bright blue eyes, and wore a blue button up shirt and jeans; Sora's father, Zack. The three of them were smiling, looking as if they were having the time of their lives just being together. Sora found the smiles to be infectuous, and then felt a tear roll down his face and witnessed it plop onto the glass frame of the picture.

"Sora, breakfeast is ready!"

Sora quickly wiped his eyes and tucked the picture gently into his suitcase. He then rushed out of his room down the stairs, and landed at the table where a plate of bacon, eggs, and pancakes greeted him.

"Thanks Mom," he said as he stuffed his face.

Aerith smiled from behind the counter. Sora swears that his mom hasn't aged a day since he was born. She is often complimented on how youthful and beautiful she looks, and the flowers she sells from her own buisness seem to bring out that beauty in her.

"Well, don't wolf it down. You're not going to be able to have my cooking for a while."

"Depends on what you mean by 'a while'," Sora said with a full mouth. He swallowed. "I'll come visit whenever I have the chance, even if it's next weekend."

"You better," Sora's mom threatened jokingly. They both laughed.

"So are you still picking up Riku and Roxas?"

"Yup," said Sora as he took a sip of orange juice. "We're also picking up Roxas' girlfriend, Naminé

"Oh, you never told me Roxas and Naminé were finally going out."

"Must've slipped my mind," Sora shrugged.

"So... are there any girls _you're_ interested in?" Aerith asked teasingly.

"Mom!"

Sora's mother giggled.

Sora sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm already sure no girl wants to date me."

"Sora, I don't ever want to hear you say that," warned Aerith. "You are an excellent young man, and any girl would love to have you as a boyfriend."

"Yeah, let's see if that's still true when Riku's in the room," Sora scoffed.

Sora's mother frowned. "Now do you really want to be like Riku and have a different girl each week?"

"Of course not, I just want at least one girl to notice me. I don't care if she's the only girl I ever date, I'd be happy to know a girl feels the same way I would about her."

Aerith regained her smile. "Your father felt the exact same way when we first started dating."

Sora grinned. "You mean my dad only ever dated you?"

"Yes, and I only ever dated him."

She sighed. "Sometimes destiny is merciful and lets you find the one you're looking for immediately, not giving you time to screw around."

Aerith looked at the kitchen clock. "Speaking of which, you should probably get going. Cid said the plane will be ready by noon, so that should give you time to pick everyone up and go around the island one last time."

"Okay, just let me finish getting ready."

About five minutes later, Sora was placing his luggage in the trunk of his car, with his mom watching from the door. Sora walked back over to his mom and gave her a tight hug. He eventually parted with his hands on his mother's delicate shoulders.

"I'm going to miss you, Mom."

His mother smiled. "Sora, before you go, please take this."

Aerith pulled out a necklace from around her neck, unclasped it, and held it in the air for Sora to hesitantly grab. The necklace was a silver chain, with a heavy silver crown pendant hanging from it.

"My dad's lucky pendant," Sora breathed.

"It's time it was given to you," said Aerith quietly.

Sora twisted the pendant around in his hands.

"I don't deserve this," said Sora. "I'm not in SOLIDER like he was, I'm not a hero. I'm a mercenary in SeeD, there's nothing heroic about that."

Aerith sighed.

"Sora, being a hero isn't about being in a certain military branch or whether you're a mercenary or vigilante. Your father knew that, and he wouldn't care whether you were in SOLDIER or not. He'd be proud of you like I am, and he would definitely want you to have his pendant."

"Then, what _is_ being a hero about?" asked Sora, uncertainly.

"You'll find out one day," Aerith answered. She gave Sora a kiss on his forehead.

"Now hurry along, your friends are waiting."

Sora smiled. "Bye, Mom. I'll let you know when I can come back and visit."

Sora got into his car and put on his father's necklace before starting the car and driving off to Riku's. Once he got to his friend's house, he got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Before he knocked, however, he heard noise from the other side that sounded strangely like feminine giggling mixed with masculine laughter.

"Serah, give me back my towel!"

"If you want it so badly, come and get it!"

"Look, I already told you. As much as I would like to spend the whole day chasing you around while you're soaked and naked..."

"Speak for yourself!"

"...I'm expecting someone to come pick me up so I can go off to the Academy."

Sora rolled his eyes and chose at that moment to knock on the door.

"Speak of the devil, he's here."

"I'll get it. I'll have to put on your towel though."

"Fine, I have to get dressed anyway."

"Aw, man!"

The door opened, and standing in the doorway was a young woman close to Sora and Riku's age, with wet pink hair and dark blue eyes. She was wearing nothing but a simple, white towel, complimenting her petite figure and dangerously close to falling down without the girl holding it up.

Sora was blushing intensely. The girl, who must have been Serah, started giggling.

"I take it you don't see half naked women up close that much," she said brightly.

"Um..." Sora hesitated. "Is that a good thing?"

Serah gave Sora a studying look.

"You look like a nice guy, someone who would rather die than hurt a girl in any way. So, in your case, then yes, it's a good thing."

Riku then came into the doorway, putting on a navy blue t-shirt that went along with his khaki shorts and light brown Sparri's.

"Hey Sorra. Let's go wait in the living room while Serah gets dressed, okay?"

"But I don't wanna get dressed, 'cause then I'll have to leave!" Serah pouted.

"Well, I have to leave too, so that makes us even."

Serah gave Riku a playful punch in the arm and walked off into the house, up the stairs towards Riku's room. Riku motioned for Sora to come in, and Sora followed Riku into the living room, where they sat in individual arm chairs.

"Really, Riku? I told you I was coming early."

Riku chuckled. "Sorry man, I don't really plan these things, they just happen."

"Who...?"

"She's my combat instructor's younger sister," Riku answered before Sora finished. A few minutes later, Serah came into the living room, fully dressed in a white blouse and a black skirt. She walked over to Riku and gave him a very sensual kiss. Sora looked away, slightly embarassed that this was happening while he was in the room.

"Let me know if you want to hook up next time you're in town," Serah said playfully.

"I'll try. Give Snow my regards."

After that, Serah left, leaving Riku looking quite satisfied and Sora slightly confused.

"Snow?"

"Her boyfriend," said Riku. Before Sora can open his mouth, Riku interuppted. "They have a pretty open relationship."

"Oh," stated Sora, not quite understanding.

"Alright," said Riku as he abrubtly got out of his chair. "Let's go pick up the two lovebirds and say farewell to this place."

Sora tilted his head. "Where are your folks? Don't you want to say goodbye to them?"

"They're not here," said Riku dismissively. "Even if they were, they wouldn't say goodbye anyway."

Riku walked out the door with Sora following him. He knew better than to pursue the subject any further. As they got into the car, Riku's eyes shifted to Sora's pendant.

"That's new."

"Hm?" Sora looked down. "Oh, yeah. It was my father's."

"Looks good on you."

"Thanks."

As they drove out into the street, down a couple of blocks to Roxas' house, an awkward silence followed them. Sora, not being able to take it any longer, spoke up.

"Something wrong?"

Riku sighed. "What's it like, Sora?"

"What do you mean?"

"To have a parent that actually cares about you," said Riku solemnly.

Sora shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat. "Forget about them Riku," affirmed Sora. "If they don't want to be a part of your life, then so be it. Roxas and I are your family, we'll always have your back."

Riku didn't respond. Instead he looked out the window. "We're here."

Sora stopped the car infront of a nice looking beach house. Roxas was lucky that out of the three of them, Roxas had instant access to Destiny Island's renowned beaches. They would often hang out here the most throughout their childhood, especially on the smaller island offshore that they called Play Island. As they got older, however, they stayed on the main beach, Sora and Roxas making bets as to whether Riku would succeed in his various over the top ways to pick up girls, ocassionaly trying to copy their friend immediately after, to no avail.

Sora looked into his driver's mirror to check his hair, and grinned his trademark smile into the mirror as well. Riku laughed.

"You know, you have just as much of a chance as you did when you were seven, right?"

Sora blushed a little. "Look who's talking, you wanted to get in her pants ever since you found out what sex was!"

"Just get out of the car."

Sora and Riku got out of the car, and as they walked towards the door, Riku lightly shoved Sora out of the way and sprinted at the door.

"Hey, no fair!" Sora shouted as he ran to catch up with Riku. Somethings never change.

Sora ultimately managed to outrun Riku and knocked on the door. They were more than disappointed when they saw who answered it.

"Damnit Roxas!"

"We wanted your mom to answer the door!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Good to see you too, assholes."

"Roxas, is that Sora and Riku?" asked a femine voice from the back porch.

Roxas sighed. "Yes Mom, it's them."

"Good, let them in! Cloud and I want to say hello!"

Sora and Riku rushed into the house, leaving Roxas looking after them with an annoyed expression.

"She said her _and _Cloud, you perverts."

Roxas chuckled as he closed the front door.

Sora and Riku walked out onto the front porch and we transfixed at the sight in front of them, Sora blushing furiously while Riku was practically drooling.

Roxas' mother, Tifa, was laying out on a lawn chair, in a black bikini that showed off her incredibly sexy figure, her porcelain skin and dark brown hair shining in the morning sunlight. She sat up and lifted her sunglasses, looking at her son's friends with her chocolate brown eyes. Her smile inwardly melted Sora and Riku.

"Sora, Riku!" she exclaimed as she got up. Tifa walked over to the boys and gave each of them a hug, both reluctant to let go

"Hi Mrs. Strife," said Sora sheepishly.

"Looking beautiful as ever, Tifa," said Riku, concentrating with all his might not to look at Mrs. Strife's chest.

Mrs. Strife giggled. "I can't believe you're all old enough to go to Shinra! I feel so old!"

"Nonsense, you haven't aged a day since I met you," came a smooth voice.

Sora and Riku looked to the left to see Roxas' father, Cloud, walk over to his wife and place an arm around her. Sora and Riku's eyes shifted away uncomfortably. They didn't even notice Cloud was there, being to absorbed in Tifa's appearance.

Cloud smiled. "I see you're wearing your father's lucky pendant, Sora."

"Yeah, my mom gave it to me before I left," replied Sora.

Cloud chuckled. "I remember one time where he dropped the damn thing while we were running away from 20,000 Unversed soldiers. He hightailed and charged directly into the horde, coming out five minutes later, necklace in hand and not a scratch on him."

Sora stared in awe. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," said Cloud. "Zack was pretty much the best SOLDIER ever trained, after Sephiroth."

Cloud cringed as he said the name, while Sora and Riku heard curious latin chanting in the wind.

_Estuans interius_

_Ira vehementi_

_Estuans interius_

_Ira vehementi_

_Sephiroth_

_Sephiroth_

"...What was that?" asked a perturbed Riku.

"Oh, it happens every time you say Sephiroth's..."

_Estuans interius_

_Ira vehementi_

_Estuans interius_

_Ira vehementi_

_Sephiroth_

_Sephiroth_

"...Name," Cloud finished. "Anyway, Seph-"

_Sors immanis_

"-You-Know-Who, was the best Soldier... until he went axe crazy and Zack and I had to kill him."

"Why did he go crazy?" asked Sora.

"The music that played when you say his name got on his nerves. He snapped and tried to bring a meteor down on the planet because of it," said Tifa.

Sora and Riku looked at eachother uncertainly, then looked back at the couple.

"That seems a little drastic," said Riku.

Roxas walked out of the house and joined everyone on the porch.

"Alright guys, I'm ready to go."

Roxas was then crushed into a more intense hug by his mother, Sora and Riku wishing to be in his position.

"Try not to get yourself killed," said Tifa.

"Mom, I'll be fine," Roxas choked. Tifa released him. "My parents are Tifa Lockheart, Championship female boxer, and Cloud Strife, 1st Class SOLDIER turned actor, I think I can handle it."

"Damn right you can," said Cloud as he ruffled his son's hair.

The three boys walked through the house and out the front door, towards Sora's car.

"I thought you were scared shitless of the screening process," scoffed Riku.

"That was before I heard that the guy in charge of the program when my dad and Sora's dad were there was fired."

"Professor Hojo?" Sora asked. "What for?"

"Apparantly, he was performing cross breeding experiments that the school didn't approve of," said Roxas.

"Hopefully they won't hire another psycho for the position," said Riku.

"Where does Naminé live again?"

"I have the address right here."

As the trio drove off, Sora plugged in his phone with the car chord and started playing his own playlist.

_I could've sworn I saw your knees bend on the bedside,_

_Arms stretched like a kite that time eventually grows,_

_I'm so sure of it_

Riku immediately grabbed the phone and chose a different song to play. The car instantly filled with the sound of jazz.

"Hey!"

"Well, we never get to listen to what I want," complained Riku. "Plus I'm sick of Manchester Orchestra."

"You did _not_ just say that."

"Hey, what about what _I _want?" said Roxas as he snatched the phone and chose a Jesse McCartney song. Sora and Riku groaned.

"Seriously dude?" whined Riku.

"Naminé likes it."

"So?" said Sora. "She's a girl, and girls only listen to this guy's songs because they want to sleep with him. Do _you_ want to sleep with him, Roxas?"

"No! What, I can't have guilty pleasures when it comes to songs?" countered Roxas.

"...Why do you even _have_ Jesse McCartney on your Iphone, anyway?" Riku asked with an eyebrow raised at Sora, who quickly snatched the phone from Roxas.

"My mom downloaded it," he muttered.

The phone passed between the three of them as they kept disagreeing what song to put it on. Then, as one of them just decided to put it on shuffle, a familiar tune started to play, with a piano and a harmonica playing in the opening.

"This is..." started Sora.

"...Lea's favorite song," Roxas finished.

"Piano Man," Riku whispered.

They sat in silence as the first few lines started playing.

_It's nine o'clock on a Saturday  
The Regular crowd shuffles in  
There's an old man sitting next to me  
Makin' love to his tonic and gin_

"_He says 'Son, can you play me a memory'_" Riku started to sing. "_I'm not really sure how it goes_,"

"_But it's sad and it's sweet, and I knew it complete,_" Sora continued.

"_When I wore a younger man's clothes,_" sang Roxas.

They all chimed in.

_La la la, di da da,_

_La la, di da da da dum_

As they pulled up in front of Naminé's house, got out of the car, and walked up to the front door, they continued to sing.

_Sing us a song, you're the piano man, _

_Sing us a song, tonight_

Naminé opened the door and smiled at the commotion the boys were making.

_Well we're all in the mood for a melody, _

_And you've got us feelin' alright_

"You guys are really good," complimented Naminé.

Roxas walked up to his girlfriend and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Well, we were planning to form a band," Roxas said.

"When Lea was still here," said Riku.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air.

"I miss him," said Sora. "We haven't seen him in two years."

"I'm sure he's alright," comforted Naminé. "I remember him being a teacher aid in my art class. He often took over on lessons when the teacher wasn't there and told us to draw the most random things, like a two headed moogle in a tutu riding a 20 ft unicycle."

Roxas chuckled. "That sounds like him."

"Did he ever ask you if you..." started Riku.

"Got it memorized?" said Sora as he pointed to his temple.

Naminé laughed. "Yeah, he did."

Sora checked the time on his phone. "10:00. We should probably get going if we want to go around the island one last time."

"Okay, but I'll need a little help with my bags..."

"I'll get them!" said Roxas immediately.

"All six of them?" asked Naminé.

"Anything for you," Roxas winked as he rushed into Naminé's house, with her following him.

Sora and Riku looked at eachother and snorted. Roxas was so whipped.

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a little long, but I felt it was necessary to add a little more character details and provide a little foreshadowing (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). **

**Thank you to all those who reviewed. It's great to hear what you guys think and knowing people are actually reading this. Keep up the good work!**


	3. Chapter 3: I'm Shipping Up to Shinra

Chapter 3

The four teenagers traveled around the island for the next hour, driving past old schools and visiting old hang out areas like the park and the arcade, where Sora and Riku went head to head in Tekken (Sora playing as Jin while Riku played as Kazuya), while Roxas won Naminé a teddy bear from the crane machine. After that, they decided to hit the local bar and grill, 7th Heaven, for a little bit of lunch.

"Does Barret give you guys a discount?" asked Naminé.

"Hell no," chuckled Sora.

The four of them walked into the bar and took seats at the counter. A muscular black man with a mohawk walked over to greet them.

"Hey Barret."

"Hey guys," greeted Barret. "I heard you're leaving today."

"Yeah, Cid said the _Highwind _was gonna be ready by twelve," said Roxas.

"And orientation's at 5," added Riku.

"How's Marlene?" asked Naminé.

"She's real excited about going into the fifth grade," said Barret. "I still can't believe it, she's growing up so fast."

"I swear, it was only yesterday when she started walking for the first time," reminisced Sora.

Barret smiled. "So, will it be the usual?"

"Yeah," replied Sora. "Will we get a discount?"

Barret laughed. "You're kidding right? Nanaki!"

A giant red dog/lion like creature walked in from the kitchen and sat next to Barret.

"Where have you been?" asked Barret. "I ain't payin' you to sleep around all day!"

"You don't pay me," said Nanaki dryly.

"I give you dog biscuits."

"Oh yes, that's perfectly compliant with worker's union laws," the creature said sarcastically.

"Just take this order back to the kitchen," said Barret, handing Ninaki a slip of paper.

The dog/lion took the slip with his mouth and walked back into the kitchen with it.

"Isn't that unsanitary?" asked Naminé uncertainly.

"Nah, he bathes regularly and takes flea medication," Barret said as got out four glass bottles of different sodas and slid them across the counter. "Let me know if you need anything else."

The quartet sat there, taking sips from their drinks and talking excitedly about their new school.

"What did you get placed in, Naminé?" asked Riku.

"SeeD," answered Naminé. "But I don't think I would be any good."

"You'll be fine," assured Roxas. "Sora will be there to make sure you don't get into trouble."

"Yeah," agreed Sora. "I got your back."

Naminé smiled. "Thanks. What do you guys hope to do _after_ Shinra?"

This question stumped the boys. They all looked at eachother uncertainly and Riku cleared his throat.

"Um... actually," Riku said hesitantly.

"We... haven't really thought about that," confessed Roxas.

"Yeah, right now we're just concerned about _surviving _Shinra," said Sora as he took a sip from his bottle."

"That's okay," said Naminé. "It's not like you have a time limit, alot of people don't really know what they want to do after Shinra. Some get government jobs, some join the actual army, some just get regular jobs and start families."

"What do you want to do?" asked an interested Riku.

"Become an artist," Naminé answered shyly.

"Have you seen her paintings?" asked Roxas. "They're _incredible_!"

Naminé blushed. "Well, I wouldn't say incredible-"

"Well, well, if it isn't my three favorite lamers!"

The three boys groaned and turned to the entrance of the bar. Walking towards them were three teens their age; the leader sported a white longcoat, had blond hair, a smug smile, and a scar running up from his left cheek to slightly above his right eyebrow (courtesy of Riku). His two cronies consisted of a girl with light silver hair with her bangs covering up her left eye, and a boy with a deep tan and an orange sleeveless shirt.

"Seifer," Sora grunted. "Fujin, Raijin."

"Who the hell says 'lamer' anyway?" mocked Roxas. "It just makes you sound like a five-year-old."

"I'm sorry, would you prefer it if I called you all pieces of shit, or motherfuckers, or something along those lines?" Seifer asked with a smirk as he sat down next to Sora.

"Hey Fujin," Riku greeted the girl. "Long time, no see."

Fujin responded by slapping Riku across the face. Nobody in the bar noticed except for the seven teens involved.

"Heartbreaker." she said coldly.

Riku rubbed his cheek. "Aw, come on babe, I've been busy!"

"More like 'getting busy'," Roxas chuckled.

"Not helping!" Riku hissed as he punched Roxas' right arm.

"You still could've called her, y'know!" the tan boy, who must've been Raijin, said.

"So," Seifer started. "How did you chicken wusses manage to get into a place like Shinra? What are all of you, even?"

"SOLDIER," Roxas said proudly.

"Turks," Riku muttered.

"SeeD," Sora said indifferently.

"Really?" laughed Seifer. "Me too! Looks like you and I are gonna be seeing alot of eachother."

"Oh joy," Sora said sarcastically.

"Why don't you just leave us alone," Naminé said bravely.

Seifer ignored her and noticed the crown pendant around Sora's neck.

"Never took you for the jewelry type, Sora," smirked Seifer.

"It was my father's," Sora muttered.

"How is it that the son of one of history's greatest SOLDIERs ended up as a lowly mercenary?"

"You're a mercenary too, dumbass," Roxas countered.

"Yeah, but I don't have a legacy to screw up, like Sora."

"Go fuck yourself, Seifer," Sora said as he drained the last of his bottle.

"Can't, I'm too tired from fucking your mom."

Crash!

In a split second, Sora was standing over an unconcious Seifer with the neck of his broken bottle in his trembling hands. He now held the attention of the entire bar, but he was to enraged to care. He pointed the jagged end of the broken bottle at Fujin and Raijin.

"When he wakes up, tell him I won't hesitate to slit his throat if he ever says that again."

Sora then walked out of the bar and onto the side walk, leaning against the wall and waiting for his friends to come out. As he waited, he twisted his father's pendant around in his hands.

"You ok?"

Sora looked to the side to see Barret exiting the bar and joining him in leaning against the wall.

"Yeah," Sora lied. The anger hasn't fully faded within him, still showing traces in his furrowed brow.

"I'm not gonna lie and say the jackass didn't deserve it," said Barret. "But I'm sure yo mother wouldn't like it if she hears about you knocking out a boy with a bottle."

"You honestly think I was just gonna let-"

"No, no I don't," Barret reassured. "But you still shouldn't have let it get to you."

"Bar fights go on in your presence all the time," Sora countered. "And you don't lecture the guys that start _them_."

Barret laughed. "Yeah, but you and yo mamma are practically family, so that makes you a different case."

Sora didn't answer and continued to twist the pendant in his hands.

"This is about more than just that punk insulting yo mother, is it."

Sora sighed. "Would my father have done the same thing?"

"Honestly, I don't know," confessed Barret. "I didn't know Zack as well as I know yo mother. From what she says about him though, I'd say yeah."

Sora stared at the busy street in front of him.

"Everybody keeps comparing me to my father," Sora said. "How much I act like him, what he would've done, what he would've said. But how do I know that's all true? I was only four when he died, so I wasn't given much time to get to know him myself. My dad isn't here to spend time with me, or encourage me through school, or even ground me for doing stuff like this. I don't know if he would even like me."

"Sora, yo father would've been proud-"

"Everyone keeps saying that!" Sora shouted. "But do they know for sure? How do they know that he wouldn't have been ashamed of having his son in SeeD instead of SOLDIER? They don't, because he's dead, and I'll never get to know what he would truly think of me!"

Sora could feel his eyes stinging with tears, but hid his head to the side so Barret couldn't see.

"Sora, you don't have to push yourself to become exactly like your father," said Barret. "Part of the reason we have free will is so we can choose what kind of person we want to be. Yo not Zack, yo Sora. Yo free to have yo own identity."

Barret patted Sora on the shoulder. "Keep that in mind."

Barret walked back into the bar, leaving Sora leaning on the wall, pondering Barret's words.

_You're free to have your own identity_

"Sora!"

Sora looked up to see his friends approach him.

"You okay man?" asked Riku.

"That was awesome!" Roxas exclaimed. "Seifer looks like he'll be knocked out for at least two hours!"

"Roxas!" scolded Naminé.

"What?"

Sora didn't respond. Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Hey, I know what will cheer you up."

About ten minutes later, Sora, Roxas and Naminé were sitting at a table in a outdoor cabanna facing the beach. Riku walked to them from the counter with four blue ice cream bars and sat down, handing one to each of them.

"Sea-salt!" Roxas exclaimed as he grabbed a bar and immediately chomped down on it.

"Sea-salt?" asked Naminé uncertainly.

"Yeah, Lea introduced it to us when we were ten," said Riku. "Remember, Sora?"

Sora smiled. He remembered all too well.

_Sora, Riku, and Roxas were sitting on the bent palm tree on Play Island, looking out at the evening horizon. Sora looked up at the tree leaves, and noticed star-shaped fruit hanging from them. _

_"What's that?" Sora pointed. _

_Riku looked up. "That, my friend, is a paupou fruit." _

_"What's a papou fruit?" Roxas asked curiously. _

_"The island legend states that when two people share a paupou fruit, their lives are intertwined, and they are destined to be together forever." _

_"Ugh," groaned Sora. "That sounds like stupid mushy romance stuff!" _

_"What's so bad about romance?" asked Roxas. _

_"You just want to share the paupou fruit with __Namin__é," teased Riku. _

_"Shut up!" Roxas shouted, blushing furiously. Sora and Riku started laughing. _

_"What's this I hear? Little Roxie has fallen for the fairer gender?" _

_The trio turned around to see a spiky red headed boy about two years older than them walk towards them with a cooler under his arm. His green eyes gleamed with mischeif, a dead giveaway of his trouble making demeanor. _

_"It's nothing, Lea," Roxas said quickly. _

_"Roxas wants to share the paupou fruit with __Namin__é," mocked Sora. _

_"No I don't!" Roxas shouted defensively. _

_"Hey, hey," Lea said, waving his free hand to calm down his friend. "Calm down man. It's good that you're taking an interest in girls this early." _

_"No it's not, girls are icky!" said Riku. _

_Lea smirked. "You probably won't be saying the same thing a few years from now. In fact, the girls probably won't leave you alone, making you a certified womanizer. That is, if you study yours truly." _

_Riku scoffed. "Like that'll ever happen." _

_"I'll be there to say I told you so when girls start lining up to sleep with you," Lea laughed. "Got it memorized?" _

_"Why would girls want to sleep in the same bed as Riku?" asked Sora, confused._

_"Oh right, I keep forgeting you guys are ten," Lea said, slapping his forehead. "The irony. Eh, they'll show you the video when you're in fifth grade." _

_"What video?" Roxas asked suspiciously. _

_"Moving on," Lea said hurriedly. "I got something you guys need to try." _

_He opened the cooler and pulled out a box labled Sea-salt Ice Cream Bars, and distibuted four of them amongst each of the four boys, himself included. _

_"Ice cream?" asked Sora uncertainly. _

_"No, ice cream is for mortals," said Lea. "THIS is for GODS." _

_The younger boys shrugged and each took a bite out of their treats. The three pairs of eyes widened as the ice cream hit their taste buds. _

_"It tastes salty," said Roxas slowly. "But sweet, too." _

_Lea laughed. "That's why it's called Sea-salt Ice Cream. Got it memorized?"_

_The four friends sat on the palm tree and continued to talk about random things such as school, movies, anything that came to mind. Roxas looked thoughtfully at Lea, then his other two friends. _

_"Hey, guys?" _

_"Yeah?" they all replied simultaneously. _

_"Will we always be able to hang out like this?" _

_Lea stared ahead at the horizon and smiled. _

_"Well, there may be times when we're physically separated, but as long as we keep eachother in here..." _

_He pointed to his right temple. _

_"...And here..."_

_He then placed his right hand on his chest. _

_"...Then we won't ever truly be apart."_

_"That sounds kind of corny," scoffed Riku. _

_Lea laughed. "Maybe, but it's true. My point is, no matter what happens, we'll always be friends. Got it memorized?" _

The present Sora smiled to himself as he took a bite of Sea-salt Ice Cream.

_I have,Lea. The question is, have you?_

"Wow, this _is_ good!"

Sora stirred out of his thoughts to notice that Naminé has tryed the ice cream for the first time, to the approval of Roxas and Riku.

"Aren't I always right?" Roxas teased. "

Naminé rolled her eyes and gave her boyfriend a coy smirk. "Keep telling yourself that, love."

"Ugh, you guys make me wanna puke," groaned Riku.

Sora chuckled as he checked his phone. He noticed that he recieved a text from Cid:

_Plane's ready, get your punk asses over here._

"Time to go guys, Cid doesn't like it when people are late."

The four teens got up from the table and walked towards the car. As Roxas and Naminé walked ahead, Riku grabbed Sora's shoulder and turned him around.

"Sure you ok now?"

Sora smiled. "Yeah, I'm good." _For now, at least._

Riku returned the smile. "Good, because I'm not gonna spend the plane ride with you being emo on me."

Riku patted Sora's shoulder and walked to join the couple in the car.

"Cid better have some sexy flight attendants for the Mile High Club!"

Sora laughed. "You know he doesn't."

Riku shrugged with his back to Sora. "A guy can dream, can't he?"

About half an hour later, the quartet arrived to Cid's private airfield, where they got out of the car, grabbed their luggage, and hurried over to Cid's pride and joy, a private jet christened _The Highwind_, with it's namesake on the boarding ramp smoking a cigarette.

"You punks sure took your sweet time."

Sora smiled. "Good to see you too, Uncle Cid."

Cid groaned. "How many fricking times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"I lost count after 43," Sora shrugged.

"How's Shera?" asked Roxas.

"Doin' good," Cid said as he flicked away his used up cigarette. "She wants me to quit smokin', so best not to mention..."

"Our lips are sealed," assured Riku.

Naminé pursed her literal lips. She didn't approve of smoking, for her grandfather died from lung cancer, brought upon from years of smoking tobacco.

Roxas wrapped an arm around Naminé. "How long is the flight?"

"About two hours. Should take another hour and thirty minutes for you to get to Shinra, getting you there in plenty of time for orientation. Now let's get going."

Cid helped the teens load their luggage and get them situated at the well furnished seats and tables on board.

"If you need anything, I'll be in the cockpit."

Ten minutes later, the plane took off, with Roxas and Naminé sitting side by side towards the front while Sora and Riku sat at the table, watching the couple as they laughed and played around (not like that, wipe that smirk off your face).

"Look at them Sora," smirked Riku. "It's embarrassing."

"They look pretty happy," Sora said with a look of longing. "Don't you ever want to be in a relationship like that?"

"I've already been in relationships," dismissed Riku.

"A _commited _relationship," deadpanned Sora.

Riku chuckled. "Sora, I'm not the commitment type. I never have been."

"You never gave commitment a chance."

"You're one to talk, Sora. You've never even dated before."

Sora averted his gaze. "Look, all I'm saying is that there's no way you can be satisfied with your so-called 'love live'. There's someone out there that was made for you, to be with you for the rest of your life, and you're wasting the time you _should _be spending searching for her on one night stands and lame pickup lines."

"So you believe in true love, Sora?" Riku asked skeptically.

Sora shrugged. "Maybe I do. That's probably why I'm still single."

"Sora, you're still single because you always get nervous when talking to girls you like."

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "That was months ago. Now I know I don't want to date a girl unless I _know_ she's the one."

"How will you know?"

Sora looked Riku in the eye. "Have you ever felt anything stronger than lust for the girls you've been with? Have you ever felt a desire to take a bullet for her, to make sure nothing happens to her, to simply to be hers, and hers alone?"

"...No?" Riku answered uncertainly.

Sora leaned back and let out a yawn. "You'll know then...when you meet a girl you feel that way about."

Sora's eyes closed as he drifted off into sleep.

It felt like Sora was only asleep for mere seconds when he felt someone punching him in the shoulder and instantly waking him.

"Get up Sora, we're here."

Sora yawned and stretched his arms. "...Was I out for the whole flight?"

"Yeah, you missed the awesome threeway the lovebirds and I had."

"RIKU!"

Riku laughed as he dodged a pillow and a empty water bottle said lovebirds threw at him and ran out of the plane with his luggage.

"Such a pervert," muttered Naminé in an annoyed tone.

Roxas placed an arm around her. "Yeah, but he's _our_ pervert. Right, Sora?"

"Unfortunately," Sora answered jokingly.

The quartet bid Cid good bye and got into a taxi, with Sora sitting up front while Riku sat in between Naminé and Roxas, both glaring at him for different reasons; Naminé for his earlier remark, and Roxas for being a "cockblock" by sitting between him and his girlfriend.

As they drove to their destination, they gazed out the window at their surroundings as they drove by huge forests trapped in what seemed like an eternal evening, giving the whole Twilight Town area a feeling of serenity and tranquility. Then, they drove into Twilight Town itself, which was quiet, calm, and gave Sora a warm feeling that reminded him of home. After about fifteen minutes of driving through the city, they arrived to their destination:

Shinra Military Academy

The people who ran the school seemed to want to drill the fact that the school is the most prestigious of its kind, simply from the architecture alone. The school had a cross of a sleek, retro futuristic style and Roman influence in the columns that supported the buildings. At the heart of the school was a giant clock tower with two giant bells on either side, the hands pointing at 4:45.

"Let's hope the auditorium's not hard to find," Sora breathed.

After much frantic searching, they managed to find it two seconds before the start of orientation.

"That's the last time we make a detour through the girls dorms," Roxas hissed, glaring at Riku, who gave an apolegetic shrug. "Honestly, does your sex drive know no bounds?"

"You know the answer to that."

Sora rolled his eyes and shoved his silver haired best friend through the auditorium doors, followed by himself, Roxas and Naminé. They sat down in seats at the very back just as a the lights in the auditorium dimmed and the lights on the stage brightened. On the stage were four people, one dressed in a white buisness suit walking towards the microphone. The man had slicked back blond hair and cold blue eyes, and held an air of haughtiness about him, as if he regarded the student body as below him.

"Welcome to Shinra Academy," he said in a proud, snobbish tone. "For those of you new here, I am Headmaster Rufus Shinra."

"Headmaster?" Naminé whispered. "He looks like he's only a few years out of college."

Sora then noticed that Naminé was right. Rufus looked like he was in his mid-twenties, too young to be a headmaster.

"Maybe the job's passed down through family," Riku suggested.

"You each have been placed in the program that best matched the personality quiz results you took in your senior years of high school. Some of you have been placed in our prestigious SOLDIER program, with veteran Angeal Hewley being your supervisor..."

A muscular black haired man wearing the SOLDIER 1st Class uniform stepped up, smiled and waved at the students.

"Our espionage group, the Turks, headed by Tseng..."

A man in a navy blue buisness suit with a black tie and slicked back black hair walked forward and gave a curt nod.

"And for those of you who wish to fight for the highest bidder, our mercenary program, SeeD, headed by Squall Leonheart."

A young man clad in a leather bomber jacket with brown hair and a scar across his face merely looked at the students with his arms crossed.

"Throughout the year, no matter what program you were sorted in, you will be sent on missions best fitted for each program. Your grade system will be based on how many missions you complete successfully. And SeeD, you will be paid handsomely by both the school and your employers for each mission you accept."

Sora grinned. Maybe being a SeeD wasn't so bad after all.

"Keep in mind that when, or if, you graduate, the diploma you earn will have you financially set for life, granting you the ability to be hired for any occupation no matter the qualifications. Now, to go over the rules..."

After about a painful hour of going through regulations, the students were given the locations of their dorms and the identity of their roommates. Sora, Riku, and Roxas got to dorm together while Naminé dormed with girls named Selphie and Olette. When the assembly was over, the boys went to their dorm located in Sector 7. As Riku opened the door, they all looked in and breathed in awe.

The dorm was about the size of an apartment, complete with a kitchen, a small living area with two couches and an HDTV, and three separate bedrooms each with a king-sized mattress.

"...This...is our dorm?" Roxas asked increduously.

Riku walked over to the fridge, and pulled out three cans of soda.

"Guess so." Riku said as he distributed the drinks. He then raised his own.

"To a badass year."

"To a badass year." Sora and Roxas repeated.

They were definitely in for it now.

**A/N: Well, they're finally there! I've been writing more from Sora's point of view for the first three chapters, but now that they're at the school, the perspective will shift between the three of them. Also, prepared to meet more characters from here on out!**

**Please Read and Review!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Awakening

Ch. 4

_Sora opened his eyes to find himself standing on a circular stained glass platform, the only lit area amongst a sea of darkness. He looked down to see that the platform depicted himself, sleeping with a blue background behind him and circles containing the faces of his friends surrounding him. Sora then felt the ground rumble beneath him. He heard a voice. _

_"The time has come, chosen one." _

_Sora wanted to ask the voice what he meant, but his voice wouldn't work. As the rumbling continued, three pillars holding three different artifacts rose up from the ground; a shield on the left pillar, a sword on the middle pillar, and a staff with what looked like a mouse's head at the top. _

_"Which do you chose?" _

_Sora furrowed his brow. He didn't like choices. He either wanted something to be predetermined or be able to have all of the above. He always knew what to order when he went to resturaunts, and whenever a new generation of Pokemon came out, he got both versions, one for the older model of the handheld it's for, and one for the updated version, so he could trade between them and get all three starter pokemon. But he knew the mysterious voice wouldn't let him have all three artifacts. _

_Well, might as well go with the classics, he thought as he walked towards the sword and grasped the handle. _

_"You choose the way of the warrior. Very well then." _

_The pillars sunk back into the platform. Sora looked at the sword. It had a gold hilt, with a ruby at its crossguard, and a steel blade. Sora swung it around. Lightweight and swift. _

_His shadow caught his eye. It seemed to be morphing into its own form. It grew larger, and larger, until it became a dark, demonic winged creature, with piercing yellow eyes. _

_"You will come across many hardships..." _

_Sora tried to fight off the creature, but the sword was knocked out of his hands by the creature's massive palm, and the creature began to absorb him in complete darkness. _

_"But don't be afraid. You are one of seven others chosen to save the world."_

Sora jolted up in his bed, sweating and breathing heavily. He turned around and opened the blinds to let in the morning sunlight. He sighed in relief.

"Sora, get your ass up and come eat!"

Sora was suprised to hear the voice belonged to Roxas. That boy practically needed to be thrown into the Pacific to be woken up. Not that Sora was any better, if not worse.

Sora got up and swapped his pajama pants with jeans, keeping on the white v-neck he slept in, his father's crown pendant still around his neck. He opened the door and walked over to the counter, where he saw Roxas piling eggs, bacon and toast onto three different plates, wearing the SOLDIER 2nd class uniform, which is the same as 1st class, except blue, and Riku sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and wearing the Turk navy blue suit, minus the tie and without the shirt tucked in.

Sora smirked. "Looks like I'm the only one who doesn't have to wear uniform," he bragged as he sat down on a stool next to Riku.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "At least we look presentable."

Sora looked down at his shirt and shrugged. "I'll put on a jacket or something."

Riku grinned. "That's my man! Who needs formality, anyway?"

"Really," deadpanned Roxas. "I'm sure your wardrobe has _something_ to do with you getting laid, Riku."

"No, not really," replied Riku. "I just make everything and anything look good. Even a g-string thong."

Sora splurted out the coffee he just made and Roxas coughed out the eggs he just forked in his mouth.

"Ahhh! Bad mental image!" Sora shouted as he rubbed his eyes.

"You sick freak!" Roxas spat, just as horrified.

Riku laughed hysterically. "Come on, I know both of you would go gay for me."

"Not even in your dreams," Roxas said.

"Speaking of dreams..."

"Sora, I told you a million times, I don't want to hear about your sick fantasies involving my mother!" Roxas groaned.

"Wh-what?" Sora blushed. "No! Well, there was that one dream I had first where Tifa..."

"Sora!"

"...But this one's different. I was standing on a stainglass platform surrounded by darkness..."

"...Where you had to chose from three weapons to fight some sort of demon..." continued Riku slowly.

"...And you were consumed by darkness, with a voice telling you you're one of seven..." Roxas said with a raised brow.

"...Chosen to...save the world," Sora finished.

There was an uncomfortable silence amongst the three friends.

"Di-did we all have the same dream?" Sora asked uncertainly.

"Looks like it," Riku said darkly.

"...Maybe it was just a coincidence," offered Roxas.

"Yeah," Riku laughed. "I mean, I don't see any six foot tall rabbits named Frank telling us when the world will end and to commit various crimes."

"Yeah," agreed Sora.

Roxas looked at the clock above the oven. "We should probably get going."

The other two nodded.

Sora went to grab a gray Northface jacket from his closet and slipped it on. He then put on grey sneakers and walked back into the living area where Roxas and Riku were waiting by the doorway.

"Remember, we're supposed to meet Naminé by the pavilions," Roxas reminded.

Riku put on a face of mock surprise. "Oh no! I completely forgot about it the first fifteen times you said it!"

The last thing Roxas did before he stepped out the door was to punch a chuckling Riku in the arm.

The trio made their way to the pavillions, where they found Naminé wearing a white blouse and jeans, her blonde hair hanging down over her shoulder and her face in concentrative thought as she was drawing in her sketchbook. Roxas plopped down next to her and kissed the top of her head.

"That looks great," Roxas commented as he looked over Naminé's shoulder at her very realistic sketch of the bustling pavilion, with students laughing, eating, and socializing before their classes begin.

Naminé smiled. "It's not quite finished yet."

"You say that about all your drawings," said Riku.

The morning bell ringed.

"We should all get going," said Sora.

Naminé gave Roxas a quick kiss and followed Sora to the Balamb Garden, while Roxas went to the Midgar building and Riku wandered off to find the Turk HQ.

Once Sora and Naminé got to their classroom, they opened the door to find eleven desks already full. Sora groaned as he saw that Seifer and his friends occupied three of these seats, with his head bandaged and giving Sora a death glare. Sora resolved to sit as far away from him as possible, finding seats for him and Naminé next to a long black haired young man and behind a guy wearing a red and black bodysuit and a red mask with black and white seeing holes. The masked man turned around to face Sora.

"Well you sure took your sweet time! I've been waiting three chapters for me to make my debut in this fic!"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Though if this becomes a slash fic, I'm hightailing out of here."

The man paused and scratched his chin.

"Then again, maybe if it was involving me and a clone of myself, I might be interested."

Sora gave the man a bewildered look and looked over at the student next to him to see him laughing.

"Don't worry about him, he's just insane."

The masked man then jumped onto the student's desk and crouched to level with him.

"No, what's insane is that it took you forever to finally start reviewing Final Fantasy XIII."

The student sighed. "For the last time Wade, I don't know what your talking about."

The student looked over at Sora. "I'm Noah. But people call me Spoony."

"Spoony?"

"It's a long story," Spoony said quickly. "And this is Wade, but he likes to call himself..."

"Deadpool, Merc with a Mouth, at your service!" the masked man said as he jumped onto Sora's desk. "Since Disney owns Marvel now, I have every right to be in this fic. Which means I also have the right to be in the actual games. Can I be in Kingdom Hearts III? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea sepleaseplease?!"

"Um...sure?" Sora answered uncertainly.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you man, you don't have the authority. I'm just gonna have to schedule a trip to Japan and have some quote-unquote 'aggressive negotiations' with the writing staff."

Sora looked pleadingly at Naminé, who gave a weak smile and a shrug.

Just then the door opened and in walked the head of SeeD, Squall Leonhart, followed by a young black-haired woman wearing a green tank top, khaki short shorts, and a black headband.

"Good morning, SeeD recruits," Squall said. "As you know, I am Squall Leonhart, but you guys can call me Leon, and this is my assistant teacher, Yuffie Kisaragi."

Yuffie waved at the class and smiled. "Today, you guys are going to be put into squads and choose your weapons by taking a little test.

The class groaned.

"Come on guys, it's fieldwork, not written."

This brightened the class' mode quite a bit.

"In order to gain your weapons, you must retrieve them from that monster infested cave out there."

She pointed out the window. The class looked out and gulped, except for Deadpool, who was squealing like a fangirl.

_Hey!_

Okay fine, he squealed like he found out they were airing a Golden Girls marathon on TV Land.

_Thank you. _

...Anyway, out the window was a deep cave with a storm cloud right above it, lightning striking from it, skeletons littered at the cave's mouth, and a man with ripped up clothes and several bruises running out of it screaming bloody murder.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck. He wondered if Roxas and Riku had to deal with this insanity.

Roxas was standing in line side by side to several other 2nd class SOLDIERs in the school gym. The leader of SOLDIER, Angeal, was walking along the line smiling at the recruits.

"Always glad to see some new faces," he said. "Now, I'm not like any of those other hardass military commanders, telling you to do push ups, run laps, and stuff like that. Well, not as punishments at least. Actually, I think the only time I gave out punishments was when Zack and Cloud..."

He trailed off, smirking as he thought of some past incident. He shook his head and had his mind return to the present.

"But as a member of SOLDIER, I expect all of you to give me your best. Nothing more, nothing less. I won't punish any of you, but I will be very disappointed if any of you slack off."

Roxas looked around. He could see some recruits avoiding Angeal's gaze. Apparently, they thought Angeal's disappointment was worse than any possible punishment. They were probably right.

"Now, as new SOLDIERs, you're gonna have to go through a medical screening process to make sure you are in perfect condition, and be further enhanced to better fufill your duty."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. _Further enhanced?_

"Since Professor Hojo is no longer working with us, we had to have him replaced. So let's give a-"

An insane cackle let out throughout the gym. Angeal gave out an irritated sigh.

"..._Warm welcome,_ to Shinra's new head medic, Doctor Insano."

A man wearing a labcoat, scrubs, and a stephoscope with black hair and goggles with swirling lenses teleported into the gym with a wide toothy grin and giggiling maniacally while rubbing his hands together.

"Hello lab rats-er, I mean, children," the mad doctor greeted in a high pitched voice. "I am Doctor Insano. Now, don't let my appearance decieve you, I am only concerned with your personal health. My name however, _does_ reflect my personality."

Insano cackled again. Roxas could feel himself practically sweating.

"All of you will line up outside my office in the 300 Hall to be inspected."

Doctor Insano walked up to Roxas.

"We'll start with _you_," he declared with unnerving relish. He grabbed Roxas' arm and teleported him into his office, cackling as he sat Roxas down on the examination table.

"How did you teleport me here?" Roxas asked with a brow raised.

"WITH SCIENCE!"

Roxas jumped at the outburst and looked around. He never liked going to the doctor's office, and being trapped in one with this lunatic wasn't changing his opinion for the better. Sure, it looked like an average doctor's office, with diagrams and shelves containing various medicines and healing items, but a doctor like Insano can make it look like a torture chamber.

Doctor Insano came back with a clipboard and a pink orbish creature with wide eyes in his arm.

"Now let's see," the doctor mused. "Roxas Strife, son of Cloud and Tifa Strife, blood type O..."

Insano carelessly tossed the clipboard behind him. "Well, everything seems to be in order. Right muscle mass, reasonable weight, you got a 100 on all of your fitness exams throughout high school. All in all, a perfect recruit for SOLDIER."

"Okay," Roxas said. "So... can I go now?"

Doctor Insano laughed. "Of course not! You still need your injections!"

Roxas felt a lump in his throat. "Injections?"

"Yes, SOLDIERs need to be injected with Mako in order to heighten their strength, senses, and, to put it bluntly, make them the super soldiers we all know and love."

Roxas' eyes widened. "Isn't Mako highly radioactive?"

"Bah," Insano spat. "That's just an old wive's tale. I mean, sure there have been cases of extra limb growth and various other deformities, but that doesn't mean it's radioactive."

"I'm sure that's the _definition_ of radioactive," Roxas argued.

"Look, it's perfectly safe. The Mako has been refined since then. We haven't had an incident with this crap in nearly 30 years."

"How do you know if you just got this job?" Roxas asked.

"I used Mako in my experiments back when I was plotting to take over the world-I mean..." Insano trailed off. "Ah, what the hell, I can't fool anyone! My name is proof of that! So... yeah, when I was plotting to take over the world."

"And Shinra still hired you?"

"Believe me kid, if they hired someone who tried to cross-breed cats and blue whales, you shouldn't be suprised that they hired someone named 'Doctor Insano'."

"Wait, if my father was injected with Mako, doesn't that mean I don't need any?" Roxas stalled. "Wouldn't the Mako pass into my bloodstream from him?"

Insano thought about this. "Maybe, but I'm going to inject you anyway."

Insano released the pink orb creature and walked over to his desk and pulled a brief case from underneath. The creature floated over to Roxas and rubbed up against him. Roxas smiled. This thing was kind of cute.

"So, what's your pet's name?" he asked.

"Pet?" Insano looked up from the opened brief case at Roxas and the pink blob. "No, no, that's my son."

"Son?"

"Yes, he's the result of me trying to create the ultimate being with cyboplasm and my own splooge."

Roxas made a mental note to throw himself into boiling water later.

Doctor Insano closed the brief case, holding a five foot long hypodermic needle filled with Mako.

"Don't worry," assured the doctor. "This will only hurt for a few seconds. Also, side effects may include, but not limited to, nausea, headaches, increased appetite, rashes in the rectal area, and insanity."

Insano laughed while Roxas' eyes widened as he took a huge gulp.

"Mommy..." he whimpered.

Riku had absolutely no clue where he was going. He walked around aimlessly through the halls of the school, which was full of bustling students merely minutes before, but now was as silent as a grave. Riku tried to remember whether the orientation gave any information regarding the Turk HQ, but he couldn't. Probably because he was too busy flirting with a group of girls sitting in front of him at the time.

"Lost?"

Riku turned and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Standing in front of him was a girl his age, with neck-length raven black hair and wearing a custom version of the Turk uniform, with a short skirt subsituting the slacks and the shirt and jacket smaller to accomodate her figure. Her bright blue eyes shone like the tides of the sea, a feature that caused Riku to become speechless.

Riku has been with various pretty girls, but this was the first time he was caught off guard by one (not counting Roxas' mom). He quickly regained his composure and put on a confident smile.

"I was, but now that I found you, I think I'm complete."

The girl smirked. "Cute."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Cute?"

"Cute that that's the best line you can come up with."

Riku smirked as well. This was new.

"Well, you want me to say 'No, but now I'm lost in your eyes,'?"

The girl rolled said eyes. "Please, that would just embarass yourself further."

Riku walked closer to the girl. "I don't know the meaning of the word."

"Then that means your either too egotistical or too stupid to notice when you look like an idiot," she scoffed.

"I think the former would be correct," said Riku. "After all, If I was stupid, I wouldn't be here now, would I?"

"Good point," the girl said. "You do display all the traits of textbook narcissism."

Riku frowned. "Really?"

"You're overconfident, especially when it comes to picking up girls, you're overly concerned with your appearance since your eyes keep darting over to the trophy case where your reflection is..."

Riku quickly shifted his gaze from the trophy case to the girl and grinned. "So you're interested in my eyes now?"

"...And you take an insult or critisism and turn it into a compliment about yourself," she finished.

"Well, I'm not easily insulted, Miss..."

"Kisaragi," she answered. "Xion Kisaragi."

"Xion," Riku mused. "That's a pretty name. I'm Riku Yagami."

He held out his hand for Xion to shake, but she smirked and walked down the hall. Riku felt slightly indignant.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Xion turned around and sighed. "Do you want to find the Turk HQ or not?"

Riku shrugged and followed the raven haired girl, his eyes shifting downward.

"And stop staring at my ass."

Riku looked back up and smirked. This girl was good.

The two of them went out into the garden and walked to the center, where a statue of a crowned cat riding a giant moogle rested.

"Hello, Cait Sith," Xion greeted to the statue.

Just when Riku thought Xion suddenly went crazy, the cat on the statue responded in a Scottish accent, "Why how ya doin, lass?"

The robotic cat jumped off of the moogle and right in front of Riku and Xion.

"Tseng says you can only pass if ya know the password."

"It's Ultima," answered Xion.

"Alright, let them in," Cait Sith instructed the moogle.

The moogle jumped down from the pedestal and pushed it to the right, revealing a staircase leading underground.

"We'll close it once you're down there."

"Thank you." Xion walked down the stairs with Riku following her, bewildered.

"How the hell did you know all of that?" he asked.

"The information regarding how to find the headquarters was included at the bottom of the acceptance letter," Xion said. "I assume you read it, right?"

"Um..." Riku didn't think it would impress Xion if he told her he threw away the letter as soon as he got it.

"Your hesitance is _very_ reassuring," Xion scoffed.

Once they got to the bottom of the stairwell, they came to a large metal door. Xion put her right hand on a scanning pad next to the door, and the door opened.

Inside was the Turk HQ, where dozens of people were walking around, some in offices, and at the end of the room was a giant supercomputer that currently had a map of the entire world displayed on it.

"Agents Yagami and Kisaragi."

Riku and Xion stepped through the door to meet their superior, Tseng, who was apparently waiting for them.

"Tseng," Xion greeted while shaking Tseng's hand.

"I was just looking over both of your files, and you two are perfect for this assisgnment I'm about to give you."

"Wait," Riku hesitantly. "You're not gonna give us a test or anything?"

Tseng raised an eyebrow. "Why would I? You're in, aren't you?"

Riku shrugged. Fine by him.

The two of them followed Tseng to his office and sat in two chairs in front of his desk. Tseng sat down and pulled out a file.

"Agent Kisaragi, I understand that you excelled in computer sciences at your old high school, and were trained in Jujitsu and Taekwondo."

"That is correct sir," Xion confirmed.

"And Agent Yagami, it says here that you were trained in seven different martial arts, specializing in Ninjutsu, and to use all kinds of weapons, specifically firearms and swords."

"Yes sir," Riku agreed.

"Okay then, now to detail your mission."

Tseng opened the file and put it on the desk in front of Riku and Xion.

"We've been on the trail of a cyber terrorist that calls himself the Cloaked Schemer for a about five years now. Though he has comitted acts such as bombing and hacking into corporations' financial records, he is most well known for stealing plans and secrets from the government and selling them to the highest bidder. One of our deep cover agents managed to track him to Radiant Garden, before he was discovered and executed."

Riku cleared his throat. Well, undercover missions were definitely not for him.

"Radiant Garden?" Xion questioned as she picked up the file and read through it. "Isn't that the world capital?"

"Yes," Tseng sighed. "Whenever he hacked into government systems, it was always at military bases or other agencies. The fact that he's been located in the capital means that he's planning something on a much larger scale. Something that might threaten the entire world as we know it."

"Do we have a name?" Riku asked.

"Unfortunately, no." answered Tseng reluctantly. "Our agent was found before he could give us one. So, your misson is to go to Radiant Garden, find the Cloaked Schemer, and put a stop to whatever he's planning. Do you accept this mission?"

"Yes, sir," Riku and Xion said simultaneously.

"Good," said Tseng as he pulled out a briefcase. "This case contains several different forms of identification, including passports, driver's licenses, etc., and at least 100,000 munny in cash."

He handed the case to Xion.

"And these," he continued as he pulled out a smaller case and opened it. "are your standard issue Walther P99 handguns, each accompanied with a silencer and 20 clips of ammunition, each one holding 12 rounds."

Riku took out a small, black P99 along with a magazine, loaded the pistol, and cocked it. He examined the gun and gave a grin.

"Cool," he said simply. Xion rolled her eyes. What was it with boys and guns?

"Also, you'll need these earpieces," he said as he handed two small wireless earpieces to the two agents. "To keep in touch with eachother and with me."

He then pulled out two slips of paper. Riku was suddenly reminded of a magician that was able to pull anything out of everywhere.

"Lastly, here are your tickets to the train that will take you to Radiant Garden. It leaves at 3:00 today and will arrive to your destination at 10:15 tomorrow morning. It is 12:00 right now, so you have about four hours to pack everything you think you'll need before you leave."

He gave the two the tickets, but Riku hesitated before taking his.

"So... we can't say goodbye to our friends first?"

"I'm afraid you're not aloud to interupt your friends' classes," Tseng said with a apologetic tone. "You can leave a message in your dorm if you like."

"So I can't say goodbye to my sister?" asked Xion.

Riku raised an eyebrow. Xion has a sister?

"That depends on who your sister is."

"She's an assistant teacher for SeeD. Her name's Yuffie."

Tseng sighed regretfully. "Then I'm afraid it would be unwise to interupt her while she's teaching."

"Alright guys, let me go over the rules real quick!"

The SeeD students were standing outside the cave, with Yuffie standing at the mouth of the cave while Leon leaned against the stone wall on the outside.

"You will all be divided into groups of three that you will be apart of for the rest of your time here. After that, each squad will be sent into the cave individually in order to traverse the cave and obtain the weapons they desire. There are four different tunnels you can take in the cave to get to the treasure horde, each tunnel filled with traps and monsters. The group that brings back the best and rarest weapons will be chosen for the first contract of the year. You will now choose your partners."

Sora could see numerous kids gathering into groups of three, with Seifer and his cronies being one, and others consisting of Selphie and two boys named Zell and Irvine, and Olette with Hayner and Pence. Sora stayed with Naminé and noticed Spoony and Deadpool were the only other two left.

"Alright, since we have an odd number of students, you four will be in a squad together," said Yuffie in her cheerful tone.

"All right!" Deadpool exclaimed while grasping Sora into a tight hug from behind. "We're gonna be best friends forever! We'll have sleepovers, we'll share beauty tips (I'd really like to know how you got your hair like that), we can talk about how glorious Bea Arthur is..."

Sora swore he heard Deadpool sniffle.

"I know she's no longer here physically, but spiritually, she will always be among us."

"Help...me," Sora choked out to Naminé and Spoony, who only shrugged and sniggered respectively.

"All right," said Yuffie, ignoring Wade's antics. "Squall, do you have anything to add?"

Squall remained silent and simply glared at the students.

"Emo Git," Spoony muttered.

"...Okay, Sora's group, you'll go first. Any further questions?"

The group remained silent.

"Alright, ready...go!"

Deadpool charged into the cave with Sora, Spoony, and Naminé following him, directly into the middle path.

"Hey, wait up!" Sora shouted after Wade.

"Chill out Sora," assured Spoony. "Deadpool's just excited. Plus, he has certain...abilities that might help us."

"What kind of abilities?" asked Naminé curiously.

The three of them heard a whoosh and the sickening sound of flesh being penetrated.

"Hey guys, just a warning, there are dart traps right here, so don't step on the red tiles," they heard Deadpool shout.

"He heals quickly," Spoony said bluntly.

They ran around the corner to see Deadpool farther down the torchlit cavern, pulling small darts out of various parts of his body, mostly from areas lethal if hit. He examined a black tipped dart he just pulled from his neck.

"Okay, _poison darts_? Way to rip off Raiders, guys! I don't know whether to mad at Shinra or the author!"

"Doesn't that hurt?" Naminé asked worriedly.

"Eh, I'm used to it by now," Deadpool shrugged. "Oh, there's a switch to deactivate the trap." He pulled the switch. "Coast is clear! Come on down!"

The three did as they were told and joined Wade on the other side. As they traversed further into the cave, they continued to use Deadpool as a human shield when it came to deactivating traps, as a chew toy for goblins, or to overcome any other obstacle. Finally, the four of them came to the end of the cave, where their jaws dropped as they came into a huge treasure trove filled with gold, jewels, and weapons ranging from swords to Desert Eagles to even M79s.

Deadpool squealed with joy and rushed to grab two katanas and all the firearms he could find. Spoony began hunting through the mounds of gold, and Sora was about to explore the area when he noticed Naminé hanging back by the opening.

"Aren't you going to go find something?" he asked.

"I don't know what to look for," Naminé replied.

"Well, did you ever take fencing or anything like that?"

Naminé stared off in thought. "I took archery throughout high school," she said.

"Alright, then see if you can find a bow and a quiver of arrows."

Naminé nodded and went searching, while Sora walked over to Spoony, who was observing what looked like a handgun and a giant revolver with a straight handle buried in gold.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sora asked, nodding towards the revolver.

Spoony grasped the giant revolver and pulled it out to discover that instead of a barrel, there was a sixteen foot single edged blade in it's place, with what looked like a lion engraved into the blade.

"A gunblade," Spoony said. "Kind of looks impractical to use, don't you think?"

"Maybe," said Sora. "But they're supposed to be pretty powerful."

Spoony observed the weapon, then shrugged and rested the gunblade on his shoulder.

"Hope I don't break my wrist using this," he chuckled.

Sora smirked, which faded when his eye caught something in the middle of the room.

What he saw was a giant key embeded in a stone pedestal. The key had a gold and blue handle, with a chain that held the mouse symbol he saw in his dreams, and a silver shaft leading down to the teeth, which was blocked from view by the stone it was embedded in.

Sora felt drawn to the key, and started towards it. He grasped the hilt, and started pulling the key upward. It took a couple of tries, but then, in a flash of light, the key slid easily out of the stone.

Just then, circular shadows started appearing on the ceiling and the ground, morphing into small creatures with antenaes and beady yellow eyes. The creatures started circling  
Sora, who responded by hitting them with the key. After being hit, the creatures dissolved instantly.

Sora rushed towards the others, who were busy fighting off the creatures on their own. Naminé, having aquired a bow, was firing arrows at various creatures, while Spoony was slashing at them with his gunblade, and Deadpool looked like he was having too much fun shooting the creatures with an M4 assult rifle.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Sora called.

The four of them ran back the way they came, the creatures in hot pursuit and Deadpool and Naminé shooting back at them. A few of them managed to crawl on the ceiling over them and land in front of them, but Sora and Spoony managed to cut them down.

"Who knew a key could be that deadly," Spoony laughed.

"You're telling me," said Sora.

Once they got back to the entrance of the caves where the four tunnels diverged, they practically jumped out of the cave into the sunlight and watched as the shadowy creatures retreated down each tunnel.

"Way to go guys! You're the first ones back!"

The four of them turned to see Yuffie and Squall behind them, the former sporting a wide smile while the later simply had his arms crossed and simply glared off into space.

Deadpool walked closer to Yuffie. "So... does this mean you can give me a 'special reward', one that involves a whip and black lingerie? You are over sixteen in this fic, right?"

Yuffie lightly nudged Deadpool out of the way. "I'm 24, and if you want something like that, you might want to pay a visit to Ms. Trepe."

Spoony's head jerked up. "You mean that sexy blonde teacher?"

"Yup."

Spoony gave off a mischevious grin. "Would you guys excuse me?"

Spoony started walking back towards the school, only for Yuffie to grab him from the back of his shirt.

"Whoa, hold on there buddy, I was only kidding. Questis would probably beat you up if you approach her for anything other than educational buisness."

"You do realize that only turns me on more, right?" Spoony pointed out.

Yuffie rolled her eyes and released Spoony. "We're gonna wait for the others to get back before we inspect your loot, and in order from who got out last to who got out first." she told the four of them.

They waited about forty five minutes for the other three squads to emerge from the cave, all covered in bruises and carrying different assortments of weapons. From Seifer's squad, Seifer got a gunblade with a semi automatic hilt that he called Hyperion, Fujin got a blue chakram, and Rajin got a bo staff. In Selphie's squad, Selphie got giant nunchuks, Zell got spiked fighting gloves, and Irvine brought out a Winchester hunting rifle. From Hayner's group, Hayner got a long sword, Olette had a crossbow, and Pence had a sawed off shotgun. After inspecting them, Squall and Yuffie finally got to Sora's squad. Squall stopped in front of Spoony and gave off a smirk.

"I remember that," he said, pointing at Spoony's revolver gunblade. "That was my first gunblade. I traded it for the Lionheart, but the Revolver got me through some tight situations. Use it well."

Spoony glared at Squall, then at his gunblade, as if he was reconsidering his weapon choice. Squall then gave Deadpool a lookover, to see two katanas stapped to his back and two handguns in holsters on his sides.

"There's much more where this came from," said Deadpool proudly.

"Where?"

Deadpool then pulled an RPG rocket launcher semmingly out of nowhere.

"I love hammerspace."

Squall nodded and inspected Namine's weapon.

"Bow's nice and sturdy, collapsable, and in perfect condition. We have more arrows back in the school if you run out."

Squall's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of Sora's giant key.

"Where did you find that?" he asked in a suprised tone.

Sora looked down at the key. "I pulled it out of a stone in the middle of the chamber," he answered.

"That's a keyblade," Squall breathed. "Specifically, the Kingdom Key. One of only seven other keyblades in existence."

Sora's eyes widened. "...Seven?"

"According to legend at least," Squall said. "Looks like we got ourselves our winning team."

Sora's team cheered, while all the other teams congragulated them, except for Seifer, who impaled his gunblade into the ground.

While all this was occuring, a figure in a black coat, hood obscuring his face, was spying on this scene from behind a tree. Making sure no one was looking, he summo0ned a dark portal and walked through it.

At the top of the school's clock tower, another hooded figure was sitting over the edge, overcome with a nostalgic feeling as he stared off into the eternal sunset. A dark portal opened up behind him, and the first cloaked figure walked out from it.

"Well?"

"I found the first key guy."

The sitting figure sighed. "Demyx, they're called 'keybearers'. Got it memorized?"

The one called Demyx scratched his head. "Oh, right. Those guys."

"Well, who was it?"

"I heard the teacher call him... Fair. Sora Fair."

The sitting figure remained silent.

"You know him?"

The sitting figure waved his hand. "Maybe. We need to tell the Superior that the first one's been found."

"What about the others in Radiant Garden?" Demyx asked.

"Tell them we need to accelerate our plans."

Demyx sighed. "You're sending the wrong guy for this."

"Just do it."

Demyx opened up another portal and walked in it. When the sitting figure was alone, he lifted his hood, revealing his spiked red hair, his green eyes, and teardrop tattoes beneath each eye. The man smirked.

"Sora Fair. It's been a while."

**A/N: For those of you who don't know who Spoony, Dr. Insano, and Deadpool are;**

**Spoony, aka Noah Antwiler is an internet reviewer that used to post videos on Thatguywiththeglasses, but now posts videos on his own website, The Spoony Experiment, though he still regularly contributes with other reviewers on Thatguywiththeglasses. He is well known for his reviews on Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and is currently reviewing Final Fantasy XIII, among other projects. Though you might not agree with his critisisms on those games, I still recommend his videos if you want a good laugh. Doctor Insano is a character that frequently shows up in his reviews. I figured that since Spoony talks about Final Fantasy alot, I decided that he and Insano would make decent characters and for Spoony to serve as the snarky only sane man throughout the adventure that he's known for being in his reviews. **

**Deadpool (Wade Wilson) is a Marvel comics character known as the Merc with a Mouth, and is a lovable psychopath who constantly breaks the fourth wall, with other characters perceiving his genre saviness as part of his insanity. Since Disney owns some of the rights to Marvel, I wanted to include him in a Kingdom Hearts fic since Deadpool is technically a Disney character as well. Though it is incredibly unlikely, I really do want him to show up in Kingdom Hearts 3. **

**So... what do you think will happen next? Review and I might not make you wait long to find out :)**

**P.S., I think I have an idea for an Avatar: The Last Airbender fic that I might write soon**


	5. Chapter 5: You Know My Name

Chapter 5

Roxas was laying on the couch in his dorm, with an ice pack pressed against his forehead and a plastic bowel on standby. Then, Sora opened the door to the dorm and walked in to find Roxas in his current position.

"What's wrong?"

Roxas moaned. "We were injected with Mako today, so they gave us the rest of the day off to cope with the side effects."

Roxas suddenly covered his mouth and grabbed the plastic bowel, throwing up everything he ate that day, which unfortunately wasn't much.

Sora looked at his friend with concern. "Anything I can do?"

"Just wait for the effects to wear off," Roxas groaned. Roxas looked up to notice that Sora had a giant key strapped to his back. Sora followed Roxas' gaze to his weapon and drew it for Roxas to see.

"I got it during class today," Sora explained. "It's called a keyblade."

"And you chose a giant key for your weapon because..."

"Well," Sora hesitated. "Don't think I'm weird or anything, but... I heard it call me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and you know what my instructor said? It's one of only seven in existence."

Roxas bolted up, but instantly recoiled and winced in pain. "...Seven?"

"Yeah."

"Like, what the dream said?"

"Exactly."

There was a silence that hung in the air for what seemed like ages. Sora sheathed his weapon and looked around the dorm.

"Where's Riku?" he asked.

"Gone," Roxas said. "There's a note on the fridge."

Sora walkedover to the fridge, pulled off a note taped to the door, and started reading.

Hey guys,

I was sent on my first mission to Radiant Garden today with this girl named Xion as my partner. But get this: she's not into me! What's the deal? Usually girls start swooning as soon as I open my mouth, but when I talked to her, she wasn't even phased! She called my one-liners "cute", and said I was a narcissist! Me! Can you believe that?! Now where was I? Oh yeah, I'm gonna be gone for a few days, and I'll call you guys when I get to Radiant Garden. Wish me luck!

-Riku

Sora chuckled. "You read this, right?"

"Yeah," Roxas laughed. "Riku fails to impress a girl. Hell has officially frozen over."

Then _he_ froze and his eyes widened.

"Shit," he cursed as he got up from the couch and rushed off to the bathroom.

"What's up?" Sora called.

"Do we have any ointment?" Roxas yelled. "_Lots _of ointment?"

"I don't know," Sora answered. "Can you find any in there?"

"No!"

Sora sighed. "I don't want to know what you need it for, but I'll go to the campus store to see if I can find some."

"Hurry!"

The last thing Sora heard before he went out the door was Roxas cursing out someone called Insano.

Riku was sitting at a train table, looking out the window of said moving vehicle, waiting for Xion to come back with the file they need to look over. He took advantage of one of the fake IDs Tseng gave them and ordered some dry martinis for him and Xion, hoping that she will be impressed with his supposed classiness. Just as he took a sip from his glass, Xion came back with the file and sat across from Riku.

"Okay, lucky for us, this file-"

She stopped an noticed the drink in front of her.

"I didn't know what you wanted," said Riku. "So I just got you what I was getting."

Xion sat down and picked up the glass.

"Thanks," she said. She then took a long, delicate sip from the drink. An odd shiver went down Riku's spine as he watched Xion's soft lips part from the glass. "I take it you're past the flirting stage and now in the bribery stage of courting?"

Riku smirked. "Well, I wouldn't call it _bribery_. Just buying a pretty girl a drink."

"So you're implying that if I wasn't pretty, you wouldn't have gotten me a drink?" Xion asked coyly.

Riku's smirk faded. "What? No! I mean... well, I didn't mean... I just..."

Riku tugged at the collar of his shirt and downed the rest of his martini in one gulp while Xion looked out the window, giggling. Riku found the sound unusually tantalizing.

"Something funny?" he asked.

"It's just fun to watch you womanizing types squirm when your every move is being rejected," Xion giggled.

"Well, can you really blame me? You're actually the first girl I'm having trouble with."

"Aw, I'm flattered," Xion said mockingly.

Riku sighed. "You can tell me if you already have a boyfriend."

"I don't."

This surprised Riku. "Really?"

"Would that even have stopped you if I did?"

"Well..." Riku hesitated. "I've been with girls that have boyfriends before."

Xion rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Do you not like me or something?" Riku asked, unable to put up with this any longer.

"Nah, I just like messing with you."

"So you _don't_ think I'm a narcissist?"

"No, I do."

Riku opened his mouth, then closed it again. Who was this girl?

Xion giggled again. "Now, back to buisness."

Xion opened the file and slid it towards the middle of the table.

"Tseng managed to include some information on various Radiant Garden citizens with criminal records and a list of buisnesses that could be a front for the Cloaked Schemer."

Xion took the criminal records while Riku looked through the packet that detailed the various buisnesses. He found some familiar names such as ENCOM, East India Trading Company, even Dinoco. Riku stopped at a company that he was sure he never heard of before.

"Lexicon Software Publishing?" he thought aloud.

Xion looked up. "Oh yeah, they're pretty big. Number one in software development for..."

Xion paused.

"Xion?"

"Five years," she finished.

Riku understood. "That's how long they've been looking for the Cloaked Schemer."

Riku opened the packet to the Lexicon page and found a picture of the CEO with the name underneath.

Zexion Chaolan - CEO

"You think this guy might be him?" Riku asked.

"Maybe," Xion replied. She held up the packet of criminal records. "However, we should probably interrogate these guys to see if they made any suspicious deals with Mr. Chaolan."

Riku scanned the pages detailing Lexicon until he stopped at the picture of the Vice President.

The picture was of a spiky red haired man with green eyes, tear tattoes, and a mischevious smirk. Riku knew who this was, but the name listed below the picture wasn't one he recognized:

Axel Flynn- Vice President

"Lea," he muttered.

Xion tilted her head. "Who?"

Riku looked at Xion. "Nobody," he lied.

Xion looked at the picture, then at Riku.

"Do you know that guy?"

Riku sighed. "Yeah, he was one of my best friends growing up, but his name was Lea Quinton, not Axel Flynn. He was two years above me and my other friends Sora and Roxas. He was like an older brother to us, gave us advice when we needed it, and always looked out for us."

"What happened?"

"He went off to college in Radiant Garden. He said he would visit and contact us, but we haven't seen him for two years. Now I can see why."

Xion bit her lip. "I don't mean to offend you or anything, but do you think your friend might be involved with the Cloaked Schemer?"

"No, he wouldn't be," assured Riku. "Not knowingly, at least."

He really hoped he was right.

Meanwhile, Axel was alone in Zexion's private library, sitting at the grand piano, playing his favorite song.

_He said, son can you play me a melody,_

_I'm not really sure how it goes, _

_But it's sad and it's sweet, and I knew it complete, _

_When I wore a younger man's clothes._

_"La la di da da," _he sang more softly. "_La la di da da da dum." _

"Don't you ever play anything different?"

Axel turned and smirked as he saw a blonde woman with harsh turquoise eyes and wearing a black coat like his own leaning against a bookcase. Axel turned his attention back to the instrument and played a new song.

_I got a twenty dollar bill, _

_that says no one's ever seen you_

_without make-up-_

"Not what I meant," the woman groaned.

Axel smirked and stopped playing. "I'm only joking, Larxene."

Larxene rolled her eyes and walked over to the piano man, wrapping her arms around him.

"Why do I put up with you?" she whispered to Axel as she kissed his neck.

"Because I know what you like," Axel said with a wink.

Larxene nibbled Axel's ear. "Marly's here."

Axel groaned. "Can it wait?"

"He said he wanted to speak to you and Zexion pronto."

Larxene released Axel, who got up and moved towards the library doors. Before he could step through them, however, he turned back with a smirk.

"What's stopping me from just staying here with you?"

He ducked just as a throwing knife was spinning towards him, and turned to see it strike a painting in the hallway. Axel got up and dusted himself off.

"Point taken," he said nochalantly as he walked off to Zexion's office.

A pink haired man was staring out of a twenty foot wide window in a rather large home office, with the silver haired owner of the office, plus the entire mansion, sitting at the desk, typing on a laptop. Both were wearing the black coats seen on their associates. The sound of oak doors opening echoed throughout the room, and in walked Axel, who put on his trademark smirk.

"Alright flower boy, make it quick. Larxene seems to be in a nicer mood than usual today, and I rather hope it lasts by the time I rejoin her."

The so called flower boy turned and glared at Axel.

"You two are on thin ice," he said venomously.

"Funny, usually that would apply to Vexen," Axel chuckled.

Nobody else laughed.

"Get it? Ice? Because Vexen's title is the Chilly Academic? Come on, it's funny!"

"We get it, Axel," Zexion deadpanned without looking up from the laptop. "Let Marluxia do his duty as the Organization's errand boy and tell us what we did wrong this time."

Maluxia fumed at being called an errand boy. "How can you two be so relaxed when the Turks managed to track you here?"

"First of all," Axel defended. "The Turks are nothing more than a glorified afterschool club..."

"A _government sanctioned_ afterschool club," Marluxia interupted.

"...Second of all, they don't know _exactly_ who the Cloaked Schemer is. They just know that he's here in Radiant Garden."

"But there's only so many suspects they can narrow down until they find out that _Zexion_ is the Cloaked Schemer," Marluxia pointed out. "And if you two get caught, our plan will be ruined."

"No it won't," said Zexion calmly as his laptop beeped. He pulled out a gray flashdrive from the side and held it up for his fellow conspirators to see. "It wouldn't matter if anything happened to Axel or I, because you would still be able to give our client this."

Marluxia took the flashdrive and studied it.

"How do we know it works?"

"I sent an encrypted version to a contact in the city," Zexion explained. "He can decrypt it, and will be able to test it on the First Radiant Garden Bank."

Marluxia raised an eyebrow. "That bank is given almost as much security as Hollow Bastion itself. It even has blitzball-proof anti magic field generators provided by that accursed Dr. Insano."

"If this virus works, it should be able to disable even that," said Axel. "Trust us Marluxia, everything's under control."

"Just be at the party tomorrow night so we can meet with the client," said Zexion. "From there, everything else will go as the Superior planned."

Marluxia still didn't look convinced. "What if the Turks send agents here?"

"Doesn't matter," said Axel. "They don't know about the virus, so even if they foil the bank job, we'll still know whether it works or not. By the time they catch on, it'll be too late for them to do anything. Got it memorized, flower boy?"

Marluxia growled. "You better be right."

The pink haired man summoned a dark portal and walked through it, leaving Zexion and Axel alone.

"Still don't get why he's in charge of the operation," said Axel disdainfully.

"Maybe he gave Saix a blowjob or something," Zexion said indifferently.

Axel laughed. "That's the first time I heard you joke about something."

"I wasn't joking."

Axel shrugged. "Whatever man. I'm gonna see whether Larxene wants to play classroom, with me as the student."

Zexion smirked. "Masochist."

Riku couldn't sleep. He never could whenever he was in a moving vehicle, whether it was a train, an airplane, or a car. He trained himself to go about two weeks without sleep and still feel like a million munny, so one night on a train with no sleep meant nothing to him. Riku glanced over at the sleeping figure of Xion, who's head was lopsided and resting against the window. Riku smiled. He never really payed attention to how the girls he was with slept, and wondered whether all of them looked as cute as Xion did.

He frowned. What was going on? Xion was different from all the other girls he met. She seemed to be toying with him. Was that her way of flirting? Did she have bad experiences with boys in the past, and her messing with Riku and rejecting his flirting attempts are some sort of defense mechanism against it? He didn't know what to do. For some reason, he actually cared what this girl thought of him.

He got out his cell phone and dialed Sora's number as he walked off towards the bathroom.

_Hello?_ Riku noted the sleepiness in Sora's voice.

"Sora." Riku locked the bathroom door behind him and stood in front of the sink.

_Riku? Did you get to Radiant Garden yet?_

"No, I won't get there for a few hours."

_Then why the hell are you calling at three in the morning?_

"It's my partner." Riku sighed.

_Ahh, the girl that shot you down._

"She didn't shoot me down," said Riku, annoyed. "I just can't tell what she thinks of me."

_What do you mean?_

"She turns my comments against me, and laughs at me, saying she likes messing with 'womanizing types'."

_Sounds like she's only having a little fun._

"At my expense," Riku pointed out. "Honestly, I don't know what to do Sora. Xion is... something else."

_Is that a good thing?_

"I guess."

_Is she pretty?_

"Beautiful," Riku replied.

_Why do you care whether she's making fun of you or not?_

"I don't know Sora, that's why I called you." Riku turned on the sink and found a paper cup in a slot next to it. He filled the cup with water.

_Have you tried getting to know her? _

"What do you mean?" Riku asked as he took a sip from the cup.

_Maybe she's rejecting you because she doesn't know you. Try being friends with her first, let her open up to you. Once she does, you open up in return. _

"No way Sora," Riku warned. "I don't open up to anyone except you and Roxas. You're the only ones I _can_ open up to."

_Why not change that?_

"Why do you think I change girlfriends every week? So I don't have to deal with this emotional bullshit."

Riku sighed. "The admiration I get from the girls I'm with is the closest thing to love I ever recieved. Love that I never got from my parents. I can't develop actual feelings for this girl. What if she leaves me? What if she never loves me to begin with? That's why I dump those other girls; so they don't get the chance to dump me. Or before I find out they never cared about me to begin with, like my folks."

_Why don't you tell her that?_

"Are you fucking high?"

_I'm just saying, Riku. You'll never know whether you can trust girls unless you actually get to know them. Beyond the bedroom. Who knows, Xion might be the One. _

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves..."

_Riku! Are you actually developing feelings for this girl or not? _

"I don't know Sora. She's smart, beautiful, the only girl I feel like I have to actually _try_ to impress..."

_Then get to know her. Make sure these feelings are genuine. If you get to know her, maybe these feelings will increase. _

Riku sighed again. "That's what I'm afraid of."

_She might also feel the same way after getting to know you too. _

"Alright, I'll try."

_Good, make sure to call when you reach your destination._

"Okay, I will."

Riku hung up. Get to know Xion. Got it.

Riku walked out of the bathroom and went back to the table where Xion slept. He reached across the table and brushed a strand of hair away from her closed eyes.

Riku smiled and found himself drifting off to sleep on a train for the first time in his life.

The next morning, Sora was about to enter the SeeD classroom when he was stopped by Yuffie.

"No class for you today," she said brightly. "The first contract came in last night!"

Sora's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, its not anything too complicated. The Restoration Commitee in Radiant Garden just wants a team for extra security."

"Extra security? For what?"

"You know Radiant Garden. Ever since Ansem the Wise disappeared, there's always been power struggles for control of the city. The Commitee's job is to make sure no one tries a hostile takeover and to preserve the peace."

"So Radiant Garden doesn't have a leader?" Sora asked.

"Not since the coup attempted by Xehanort fourteen years ago," said Yuffie.

Sora froze. "...Fourteen years ago?"

"Yeah."

Yuffie frowned. "Is something wrong, Sora?"

"Was that the mission my father was on when he died?"

Yuffie's eyes widened in realization. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine," Sora dismissed.

"If it makes you feel better Sora, your father took Xehanort down with him, so it wasn't for nothing."

"I guess."

Yuffie cleared her throat. "So... go ahead and gather your squad together, and meet Squall in the hangar."

"Alright."

Yuffie cupped Sora's chin. "Cheer up, it'll be fun!"

Sora smiled reluctantly. "Okay."

Sora was about to go get his squad mates fro mthe classroom when Yuffie stopped him again.

"Oh, sorry Sora, can I ask you one more thing?"

Sora turned around. "Sure."

"You know Riku Yagami from the Turks, right?"

"Yeah."

"His partner is my sister Xion."

Sora's eyes widened. "Oh..."

"Riku probably already told you they're heading to Radiant Garden, so do you think once you get there, you can check up on my sis for me?"

Sora smiled. "Sure thing."

"And kick Riku's ass if he trys anything on her."

"Okay," said Sora. _Hope Riku took my advice then._

"Thanks."

Sora walked into the classroom towards his fellow squad mates with a grin on his face. This will be interesting. Not only was he now on an adventure, but now he could see for himself firsthand what has his best friend so vexed.

It was 10:30. Riku and Xion have exited the train station and were walking around the blocks of Radiant Garden. The city had an old timey meets retro look, with most of the buildings being cottages or futuristic looking skyscrapers, the roads being coblestone, all the while resting underneath a pink sky. You could see the castle of Hollow Bastion in the distance, on the outskirts of the city. The two agents finally reached the outside of a parking garage on the corner between a museum and a local diner.

"Tseng said the car should be around here."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Car?"

Just then, a man wearing a suit and sunglasses walked up to the duo and greeted them with a nod.

"Good morning. If you two would follow me, I will take you to your designated vehicle."

Riku and Xion did as they were told, and followed the man into the parking garage. They had to climb up a couple of stairs to get to the floor the car was on, and once they reached said floor, Riku's jaw dropped.

Right in front of him was his dream car; an Aston Martin DBS V12, the car he loved almost as much as women. Ever since he saw Casino Royale when he was in middle school, he knew this was the car he wanted to drive. Now he finally got the chance.

Riku immediately darted towards the driver's seat. "I'm driving!"

Xion shrugged. "Fine by me."

Riku grabbed the keys from the suit and unlocked the car, jumping into the driver's seat and started up the engine. The roar of the V12 engine was music to his ears.

Xion got into the passenger seat. "Are you done?"

Riku smirked. "Yeah."

Xion rolled down her window so she could hear the last thing the suited man had to say.

"The directions to the hotel you two will be staying at are programmed into the GPS. Tseng expects you to stay in contact with him and let him know your movements regarding the mission."

Xion smiled and nodded in thanks. She rolled up the window and Riku drove off out of the parking garage, out into the city. He turned on the GPS and pulled out a CD from his inner jacket pocket labeled James Bond Greatest Hits and inserted it into the CD player, skipping to the desired track. The sound of an electric guitar and brass instruments started playing through the speakers. Xion turned her head fast towards the source of the music with a look of pleasant surprise.

"You like this song?" Riku asked smoothly.

"Yeah, I haven't heard it in forever!" Xion said excitedly.

They stayed silent as the first lines of the song started up;

_If you take a life,_

_Do you know what you give?_

_Odds are you won't like what it is_

Xion then looked struck by a sudden realization.

"That's why."

Riku looked over at Xion in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"The reason you joined the Turks was so you could model yourself after James Bond."

Riku laughed. "Actually, I didn't want to be in the Turks to begin with."

Xion raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be in SOLDIER. But now, I'm starting to notice the similarities. We both are womanizers, we both have exotic tastes when it comes to cars and drinks..."

Riku suddenly went silent.

"What's wrong?" Xion asked, concerned.

Riku turned off the CD player.

"We both have problems trusting people."

He sighed. "Casino Royale is my favorite Bond movie because that movie actually explores Bond's relationship with other people, and him dealing with the consequences of putting too much faith into one person."

"Can you talk to me about it?" Xion asked.

Riku stayed silent.

"You don't trust me?"

Riku looked over at Xion. "I don't know you."

Xion smirked. "I guess now you get why I turned down your advancements yesterday, right?"

Riku chuckled "Yeah, I guess I do. How about this? Let's get to know eachother a bit, and when I feel comfortable enough around you, I'll let you in on a few deep things about me, and you do the same. Deal?"

Xion smiled. "Deal."

"Alright. I guess we both have similar tastes in music, that's a start."

Riku turned the CD player back on with a satisfied smile as they drove further into the city.

_You can't deny the prize it may never fufill you,_

_It longs to kill you,_

_Are you willing to die?_

_The coldest blood runs through my veins,_

_You Know My Name_

**A/N: I've realized quite recently that I've been focusing too much on Sora and Riku, and not enough on Roxas. So, next chapter is going to focus mostly on Roxas' training in SOLDIER and him meeting familiar characters that work along side him. Don't worry, Roxas will get an adventure soon enough :)**

**Please Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 6: New Friends and Old

Chapter 6

After a day feeling like complete crap, Roxas felt like he was invincible as he was lifting weights three times the normal amount he would lift. Before the injection, he could lift 150. Now, he could lift 450 lbs without breaking a sweat. Maybe the side effects were worth suffering through after all. At least he wasn't driven insane. He wasn't quite ready to start wearing swirling goggles and a labcoat yet.

After about ten minutes, Roxas finally set the barbell back and sat up, cracking his neck and looked around the gym to see his fellow SOLDIERs doing crunches, push-ups, running treadmills, basically, any type of exercise one could think of. Roxas was taking a sip from his water bottle when he spotted someone approaching him from the corner of his eye.

"Hey, how's it going?"

Roxas turned his head to the left to see someone who looked suspiciously alot like him, spiky blond hair and all, but a couple of years older and wearing the 1st Class uniform, approach him.

"Good," Roxas answered cheerfully.

"Name's Ventus. But everyone calls me Ven."

"I'm Roxas."

"Cool. Looks like the Mako is working just fine for you."

"Yeah, but it would be nice if I didn't feel like shit for twelve hours after being injected."

Ven chuckled. "Don't worry, that's the only bad thing about SOLDIER. The rest of the time is easy breezing from here on out."

"That's good to know."

Ven smiled. "Hey, a member of my squad graduated last year, and we're looking to fill the gap. You wanna join?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Out of all the other candidates here?"

"Well, Angeal lets us choose one 2nd Class SOLDIER each year to join our squad so we can mentor them and help them get promoted quicker by bringing them on the more intense assignments."

"Have you asked anyone else so far?"

"Yeah, but the new recruits seem to prefer to stick together. I don't think most of them feel comfortable hanging with an older group."

Roxas scratched his chin. "Ok, sure."

"Alright, I'll introduce you to the rest of the squad, they're training in the VR room."

"VR?"

"Virtual Reality."

Roxas followed Ventus out of the gym and up the stairs, through a door on the right that led into a control booth. Below them, Roxas could see an indoor forest that expanded for miles and heard sounds of gunfire, clashing steel, and various other sounds of battle.

"From here, you can control the enviornment the subjects traverse and the enemys they face," Ven explained. "For example, if you want the remains of a nuked city..."

Ven pressed a couple of buttons on the control board, and the forest changed into a destroyed city, revealing about six SOLDIERs spread out, with the virtual enemies facing each of them starting to open fire.

"Damn it Ven!" one shouted over the radio.

"Just showing one of the new guys around," Ven chuckled.

"What happens if they get shot, stabbed..." Roxas started to ask.

"When they enter the room, they become digitalized like the location and the enemies, so if they die, they take one minute to respawn at the last checkpoint they were at."

"Like an FPS?"

"Yeah, but without the twelve year olds cussing you out." Ven laughed.

Just then, another voice came up on the radio, this time feminine.

"Alright Ven, Kain got the last one, we're done."

"Okay, let me just get the overall kill count..."

Ven pulled up a leaderboard on a monitor, which Roxas looked at over Ven's shoulder:

Aqua: 57

Kain: 45

Terra: 43

Cecil: 38

Bartz: 30

Vincent: 29

"Aqua's in the lead for five rounds straight," Ven congragulated.

"Ha!"

"No fair!"

"I demand a recount!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Ven. "I'll meet you guys downstairs, I want you to meet the eighth member of our squad."

"Well you certainly wasted no time," a voice chuckled. "It took me weeks to convince you to join us."

Ven smiled at Roxas. "Come on."

Ven and Roxas went back downstairs and met the group of six waiting for them outside the VR. They all looked about two or three years older than Roxas.

"Alright Roxas, this is Cecil Harvey,"

A young man with long white hair smiled at Roxas.

"Bartz Klauser,"

A tall and slim brunet SOLDIER grinned at Roxas.

"Vincent Valentine,"

A pale young man with messy black hair simply nodded in Roxas' direction.

"Kain Highwind,"

"Hey," said a blond young man with his hair in a ponytail.

"Wait," said Roxas. "You wouldn't happen to be related to a man named _Cid_ Highwind, would you?"

"...No?"

"Oh, okay." Roxas cleared his throat.

"Terra Kazama,"

A spiky brown haired young man smiled and nodded at Roxas.

"And the leader of our squad, Aqua Holland."

A young woman with cyan blue hair beamed at Roxas. "Nice to meet you."

"Thanks, you too," Roxas replied.

Roxas couldn't help but notice how much the 1st Class uniform outlined Aqua's figure...

_No! Bad Roxas! _Roxas thought. _Remember, you're dating Namin__é! Just, imagine her in that uniform instead. Or nothing, that works too. Or maybe both her and Aqua...I'm starting to think I hang around Riku too much. _

"Aqua holds the honor of being the first female SOLDIER in the history of Shinra Academy," Terra said. "Because she's just that badass."

Aqua playfully punched Terra in the arm. "And don't you forget it."

"What's your last name?" Cecil asked Roxas.

"Strife," Roxas replied.

"Seriously?" Bartz said in amazement. "Like _Cloud_ Strife? The SOLDIER that killed Sephiroth..."

They all jumped as the latin chanting and psycho strings started up again.

_Veni, veni, venias,_

_Ne me mori facias_

_Veni, veni, venias,_

_Ne me mori facias_

"Bartz!" Kain chatisized, hitting the back of his fellow SOLDIER's head.

"Ow!" Bartz exclaimed. "Anyway, the SOLDIER that killed..._him_... along with Zack Fair?"

"Yeah, he's my father," Roxas explained.

"Well then," Terra started with a grin. "Let's see if the apple fell far from the tree."

Terra opened the door to the VR room. "Go inside."

Roxas' eyes widened. "What? But... I don't have a weapon!"

Terra then pulled out a Fusion Sword, similar to what Roxas' father once wielded, and handed it to Roxas.

"How's that?"

Despite the weapon's size, Roxas could handle it easily, hoisting it over his shoulder.

"Ok, now I think I'm ready."

"Good."

Terra then shoved Roxas into the VR and quickly closed the door behind him. Roxas turned back to look at the door, then turned ahead to see an empty white room. A few minutes later, he heard Ven's voice over the intercom.

"Okay, let's see how you hold up against the Stealth Sneak."

Before Roxas could ask what a Stealth Sneak was, he glowed along with the white room, then found himself standing in a jungle. Roxas had to question whether or not this was truly virtual reality, everything seemed real. The sounds of the tropical wildlife echoed throughout the room, the plants felt real when Roxas reached out to touch one, it was even humid like an actual jungle.

Just then, Roxas heard a rustling in the canopy above him. He gripped his Fusion Sword and proceeded with caution. As he walked, he continued to hear the rustling follow him. Sweating, he turned and looked upward, searching for whatever's hunting him.

He turned back forward just in time to see something long and pink dart straight at him. He backflipped away from it and watched the thing retract to the tree trunk in front of him. Roxas then noticed something shimmering on the trunk as the pink thing disappeared from sight.

"Was that... a tounge?" he asked no one in particular.

It was at that moment two glowing orbs apparated in mid air and fired energy beams at Roxas, who rolled out of the way as the beams scorched another tree instead. He watched as the orbs floated upwards and disappeared into the canopy.

Roxas breathed heavily, his knuckles whitening as he continued to grip his weapon. This thing was using camoflauge, blending in with the jungle so he couldn't see where it was.

_Guess I'll have to rely on more than just sight,_ Roxas figured.

He heard something crash behind him, seeing the tounge come back for him out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he turned and swung his sword upward, severing the creature's tounge and watched it fall to the ground in a bloody mess. He heard an animalistic scream of agony, and saw the orbs, which he presumed to be eyes, charge up again.

Roxas pointed his sword upward. He rushed towards the floating eyes, jumped up as the beams fired, and before the invisible monster had a chance to react, Roxas came back down, blade following suit, as he split the creature in half.

The creature suddenly became visible, revealing itself to be a giant bipedal chemeleon. The two halves of the bisected beast separated and fell opposite of eachother as Roxas twirled his weapon and once again hoisted it behind his shoulder.

"Way to go, Roxas!" Ven exclaimed excitedly through the intercom. "It took most of us five tries to beat just one of those things.

Roxas raised an eyebrow. Wait. One?

"Let's see how you do against three of them."

Roxas sighed. This was gonna be a long morning.

"Say hello to the Mark I gummiship."

Squall was showing Sora's squad a colorful aircraft, predominantly red, with thints of yellow on the blue nose and orange on the wings. A glass dome covered the cockpit, said to be bulletproof.

The four mercenaries bursted out laughing.

Squall raised an eyebrow. "Something funny?"

"Why the hell is it called a gummi ship?" Spoony asked between breaths.

"Well, in the original game, it's called that because it's made of the material from the broken barriers that let you travel between worlds," said Deadpool. "But I would love to hear the explanation for this version."

He then froze. "Wait, do I still think in those yellow boxes?"

A yellow textbox popped up next to Deadpool's head that only he could see.

_Why, yes. Yes you do, _the textbox read.

"Okay, I'm good."

Squall groaned as he flashbacked to last year's Christmas party.

_Yuffie and Squall were leaning against the wall, Squall being drunk after his girlfriend, Rinoa, convinced him to engage in a drinking contest with Angeal, while Yuffie was drunk due to losing a bet on who would win the drinking game. _

_"Hey, Squally," Yuffie slurred. _

_"Wh-what is..." Squall slurred even worse. _

_"I looked at your plans for the new ship, and it...it looks yummy." _

_"Yummy?" _

_"Yeah, like a gummi." _

_"Hey, why don't we call it that?" _

_"Call it what?" _

_"Gummi Ship." _

_"Oh yeah, that ssounds... kickass." _

"...I rather not go into it." he finally said.

"Can we go now?" Spoony asked.

"Yeah, just follow me and I'll show you how to work the controls."

The four of them boarded the ship and watched as Leon explained how to pilot the ship and told them about extra safety precautions. It was at this time Deadpool became distracted by a buit in food generator, and started piling up chimichangas on a plate.

"And Sora," Squall added. "I'm making you squad leader."

"What?" Sora asked increduously.

Squall then saluted the group and went down the boarding ramp.

"The flight shouldn't take more than three hours," he called. "The Restoration Committee wants you to land at Hollow Bastion. Good luck!"

The boarding ramp closed and Sora strapped into the captain's chair.

"Alright, um... Naminé, type in the coordinates for Radiant Garden."

"Ok," Naminé smiled.

"Spoony, keep an eye on the scanners in case we run into anything in the sky."

Spoony gave a thumbs up.

"Deadpool..."

Deadpool looked over with his mask raised right above his scarred mouth as he bit into a chimichanga.

"...Keep doing what you're doing. Let's rock this bitch."

The gummi ship lifted off and blasted out of the hangar and into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke and a scorched Squall behind.

"They don't pay me enough for this," he sighed as he walked back into the main building.

Roxas was now surrounded by six Stealth Sneaks, all invisible. But this didn't matter to Roxas. He leaped into the air and swung his Fusion Swords, disconecting all six of them mid-air, launching five of them at high speeds in different directions, watching as four Stealth Sneaks were hit. One of the blades missed and hit a tree, leaving two of the creatures alive. Still wielding his main sword, Roxas darted towards a pair of eyes charging up and swung the blade in a windmill motion, decapitating the beast.

"One more," Roxas breathed.

So he waited for any signs of the final Sneak. He heard rustling above him, then looked down as he noticed the shadow around him getting larger. Roxas smirked and simply pointed his sword upward, feeling it get heavier as he saw the impaled body of the Stealth Sneak materialize. He then heaved the weapon and swung it around, dislodging the corpse and watching it slam into a tree.

"Alright, Roxas!" Ven cheered over the intercom.

Roxas smiled as he reassembled his Fusion Swords. The jungle dematerialized, and Roxas walked out of the inactive VR room to the hallway, where his new squad waited to congragulate him.

"Way to go Roxas!" said Aqua as she patted Roxas' shoulder.

"Not bad for a recruit," Terra said.

"Alright Kain, pay up," Bartz said proudly.

Kain groaned and handed Bartz a sack of munny.

"I look forward to fighting alongside you," Cecil complimented.

Vincent merely nodded at Roxas.

At this time, the bell rang, and students were now crowding the halls.

"Lunch," Ven said. "You wanna sit with us Roxas?"

Roxas was about to reply when his cellphone started to ring. He checked the caller ID to see it was Naminé.

"Sorry, I gotta take this. I'll catch up with you as soon as I'm done, okay."

"Sure, that's cool," Ven said cheerfully. "We'll save you a seat."

Roxas grinned and answered his phone as soon as his new friends walked away towards the cafeteria.

"Hey babe," Roxas greeted.

_Hey Roxas. Are you feeling better?_

"Yeah I feel great! Also, I made friends with some upper classmen today."

_That's great!" _

"Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

_Um, actually that's what I'm calling you about. My squad got sent on a mission to Radiant Garden today._

"Oh," Roxas said slightly downhearted. "Any chance you know when you will be back?"

_I'm not sure, but I'll let you know when we get there. _

"Ok, tell Sora I said hi."

_Ok, love you._

"Love you too."

Roxas hung up. All of his friends were away now. He could expect to go back to an empty dorm that night. He felt alone.

Then, Roxas realized something; he wasn't alone. He had new friends that he could be with while his other ones were gone. Then, maybe once they got back, they could all hang out and be one big group.

Roxas grinned as he thought about this and walked in the direction of the cafeteria.

"No, no, no! Mr. Chaolan wanted the pink roses!" Larxene shouted at an unfortunate servant.

"No I didn't," Zexion said in a bored tone. "Marluxia wanted them, I could care less."

Before Larxene could respond, a tall, hulking man with a stone-hard face approached Zexion.

"I've got three guards at the gate and eight more stationed at various locations in the mansion, especially the basement."

"Thank you, Lexeaus," Zexion said cordially.

"Also, Axel and Vexen wish to see you."

"Very well," said Zexion. "Make sure Larxene doesn't become too controlling."

Larxene rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm gonna go check with the band, make sure they know what to play."

Zexion weaved through many servants and reached the door leading to the dining room. He went through, to the right of the table and stopped in front of a marble bust of a bald man. He opened the cranium of the bust and pressed a button, opening a secret passage in the wall, leading downstairs to the basement. Zexion traversed down the stairs as the passage closed behind him. He went down a long, dark hallway, branching off into many other hallways, similar to a maze. He finally came to a door with the Organization's symbol on it, and opened it.

The room had a circular table, a supercomputer with Axel typing away on it, and a small laboratory built in a corner, where the Organization's scientist, Vexen, was tinkering with some unknown experiment. Zexion walked over to Axel.

"What is it? I have a party to organize and I prefer not to leave Larxene in charge of it for long."

"We just got security footage from the Neverland Hotel of two Turks checking in," said Axel.

"How do you know?"

"They wear the navy blue suits, plus I did a background check on both of them and hacked into the Shinra database for their files," Axel explained with a smirk.

"Well then, thank you Vexen, for rigging the city's security cameras so we can access the footage."

Vexen turned to Zexion with a smug smile. "It was nothing."

"Who are they?"

Axel typed a few keys and the profile for a girl with raven black hair popped up.

"The girl is Xion Kisaragi, who specializes in computer analysis and defensive combat, graduated high school with all academic honors..."

He then pulled up a file of a boy with long silver hair.

"And the boy is Riku Yagami, who specializes in offensive combat and various types of weaponry, also graduated with all honors."

Axel smirked. "Look at you Riku, all grown up."

Zexion raised an eyebrow. "You know him?"

"He's an old friend of mine," Axel shrugged.

"Will that be a problem?"

"Nah, it'll be fine. Should we warn our contact?"

Zexion scratched his chin. "No, everything will proceed as planned. But go out into the field and keep an eye on the agents."

Axel grinned. "You guys really like to stick me with the icky jobs, don't you?"

Zexion turned to Vexen. "Make sure this room is prepared for our client's arrival, we want her to be as comfortable as possible."

Vexen glared. "Do I look like a lowly slave to you? What you ask me is an insult to my brilliance!"

"I don't see you doing anything important." Zexion said dismissively.

Vexen looked outraged. "I am trying to make a serum that allows one to-"

"No one cares Vexen," Axel said.

"And unless you want Marluxia to chop you to pieces with his scythe, I suggest you do as you're told." Zexion said.

"I'm not afraid of that flower obsessed fool!"

"But you are afraid of the Superior."

Vexen groaned. "Fine, I'll prepare the room."

"Good," Zexion said as he pulled out a cellphone. "I'm going to call our contact and tell him he can test the virus now."

**A/N: Next chapter will be where the action really starts as Riku finally starts his mission and Sora and his squad arrive to Radiant Garden. What is the connection to all these assignments in Radiant Garden? Will Riku and Xion find their target? And what are the true plans of the Organization?**

**Read and Review to find out! **

**P.S. And yes, I know Vincent Valentine was in the Turks before Hojo experimented on him in FF7, but I switched him to SOLDIER for story purposes. **


	7. Chapter 7: The Setup

Chapter 7

_"See anything?" _

Riku lowered the newspaper he was pretending to read and studied the crowded street and sidewalk across from him, leaning on a tree in the local park.

"Negative. You?"

_"No." _

Riku sighed. "Let me know when you see anyone familiar from the criminal records."

_"What do you think I've been doing for the past hour?" _

Riku smirked. "Checking me out."

He waved to Xion, who was sitting at an outdoor cafe across the street and quickly looked away from Riku. He could see the hint of an amused smile on her face, one that caused his insides to warm up.

_"Just focus on the mission." _

Riku chuckled as he continued to scan the crowd. "If you say so."

His eyes eventually rested on a black phone booth across the street, where he spotted a bald man wearing a white button up shirt, grey slacks, and had a tattoo of a thorned vine swirling from the left side of his face to down his neck. The man was speaking into the phone, his words inaudible due to Riku's distance. Riku swore he's seen this man before.

"I think I've found someone," said Riku. "I'll send you a picture to cross-check with the files we have."

Riku pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture, sending it to Xion. After a few seconds, Xion responded through the earpiece with the much needed information.

_"His callsign is Twilight Thorn. Real name is unknown, Crimes include aggrivated assult, armed robbery, four counts of murder, drug smuggling, and a prostitution ring." _

"So basically our everyday scum," Riku commented. "What's he still doing on the street?"

_"His file says that he was bailed out by an unknown benefactor." _

"Cloaked Schemer?"

_"Most likely." _

"He's exiting the phone booth."

_"Follow him and take him in for questioning." _

Riku waited for a chance to quickly walk across the street and started to follow his query. He weaved in and out through the crowd, trying not to get too close for the suspect to become suspicious, but not far enough to lose him. Just as Riku was catching up to his target, the Thorn got into a taxi and drove off.

Riku cursed. He flagged down another oncoming taxi and jumped in.

"Follow that cab up ahead," Riku ordered urgently. "Now!"

The taxi driver shrugged and drove off after the target. He seemed to do these kind of things often, because the driver kept the perfect distance when tailing the other cab. After about ten minutes of stalking, Riku noticed something odd as they passed the public library for about the third time.

"What the hell is this guy doing?" Riku muttered. The cab he was following was going in circles. Then, at that moment, Riku heard Xion's voice through his earpiece.

_"Riku, we have a huge problem!" _

"What is it?"

_"I was just looking through Twilight Thorn's file again, and in his picture, the tattoo was on the right side of his face. In the picture, the man's tattoo was on the left side!" _

Riku's eyes widened in realization. "An imposter."

_"It's a distraction! The real Twilight Thorn is somewhere else in the city!" _

"Stop the car!" Riku ordered.

The driver pulled the cab to the curb, and Riku jumped out of it, running down the sidewalk.

"Comb the city, we need to find this guy!" Riku said frantically.

_"What about the imposter?" _

"Forget about him, he was a body double, nothing more! He won't know anything about the Cloak Schemer!"

Riku scanned the crowds as he ran, looking for any possible hint of Twilight Thorn's presence. He froze as he heard police sirens speed past him, the crusiers halting in front of First Radiant Garden Bank. Riku decided this was worth investigating, so he pulled out his P99 and rushed across the street to join the police officers taking cover behind their vehicles.

"Hey, get out of here kid! This is police buisness!"

Riku ignored him and grinned as he saw the real Twilight Thorn exiting the bank with a rather large sack of munny and a handgun. The cops stood from their cover and took aim at the criminal.

"Drop your weapon or we will shoot!"

"No!" Riku shouted. "I need him alive!"

The thief hear Riku and spotted him amongst the crowd of cops. His eyes widened as he recognized the Turk uniform, then he dropped the sack and took off, dodging the bullets fired at him by the police.

"Damn!" Riku muttered as he gave chase. The sidewalk that was crowded mere seconds ago was now deserted, the people most likely taking shelter upon hearing the gunshots. This just made the chase easier.

"Xion, I found him robbing the First Radiant Garden Bank and am currently in pursuit. Check the museum and search for any clues as to _how_ he robbed it."

Riku picked up the pace as his target ran into an alleyway and started climbing up a fire escape, Riku close behind. The criminal jumped through a window at the top of the fire escape, Riku climbing the steps as fast as he could in order to catch up. He flew through the window and speeded towards the busted down door just in time to see Thorn go through the door leading to the stairs. Riku ran after him, witnessing the door to the roof close as he started to climb the stairs. Once he got to the top, he opened the door leading to the roof and proceeded with caution. So far, he saw no sign of Thorn. The rooftop was practically barren.

Then, Riku heard the sound of a gun being cocked from behind him. He ducked just as a shot was fired, turned and tackled Twilight Thorn to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand. Riku delivered a few punches to the criminal's jaw, but the latter threw Riku off of him and started towards the gun. However, Riku got to it first and pointed it at Thorn.

"All I want is information," Riku said. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Thorn smirked and kicked the gun out of Riku's hand, sending it flying to the streets below.

"Hard way it is then." Riku smirked as he rubbed his hand.

Thorn rushed towards Riku with his fist curled up. However, before he could deliver a blow, Riku grabbed the fist and bent it, effectively breaking the target's wrist. Riku then delivered several more punches to the man's face, chest, and finished off with a swift kick to the stomach. Thorn flew backwards and hit the door to the staircase, knocking it down, with him curling up in pain on the ground. Riku then unholstered his P99 and pointed it at Thorn.

"Get up!" Riku shouted.

Thorn did as he was told, feebly rising from the ground and staring at Riku with a look of contempt.

"Step away from the staircase and approach me from my left."

Thorn looked as if he was about to comply, but turned and started down the stairs. Riku fired his weapon, hitting the back of Thorn's left leg and watched with satisfaction as Thorn let out a cry and stumbled down the stairs. Riku followed him and grabbed Thorn by the back of his shirt, dragging him back up the stairs, throwing him out the door and back onto the roof, and closed the door behind him. He raised his gun.

"How did you rob the bank?"

Thorn grunted as he struggled to stand up, limping on his right leg.

"Why does that matter?"

"Tell me or I shoot."

Thorn gasped in pain and stumbled. "I used a virus that shut down the bank's defense system. I just plugged a flashdrive containing the virus into one of the clerk's computers and walked into the safes without a problem."

"Who gave you the virus?" Riku asked. "Tell me!"

Thorn's eyes darted to something above Riku. "Ask him."

Riku turned and looked up above the rooftop door to see a man with spiky red hair and tear drop tattoes sitting there, smirking as he loaded a Barreta 92.

"Riku! Long time no see!"

"Lea," Riku greeted. "Or is it Axel now?"

"Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?"

Axel pointed to his temple as he was saying this. Riku turned his gun on him. Axel clicked his tongue.

"Why the hostility all of a sudden?"

"You're involved in this," Riku said with a glare.

Axel gave a mock gasp. "Why would you say that?"

"You and your boss, Mr. Chaolan, are in a file of suspects for the identity of the Cloaked Schemer."

Axel then tilted his head to look over Riku's shoulder. "Aw look, he's trying to get away."

Riku turned to se Twilight Thorn limping in the opposite direction of the old friends.

"Kind of sad, really."

Axel raised his gun and shot the back of Thorn's good leg. Thorn howled and crumpled to the ground, propping himself up with his hands and turned himself over facing Riku, who turned back to Axel.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you assisting in terrorism?"

Axel nodded towards the crippled criminal. "Kill him, and I'll tell you."

Riku looked over at Thorn with a stab of pity. "I'm not an executioner."

"Come on, killing comes with the job," Axel said.

"There's a difference between killing in self defense and killing an unarmed prisoner."

"Not really," Axel shrugged. "Taking a life is taking a life. Besides, no one will miss him. You'd actually be doing this city a favor by making sure there's one less pimp, robber, what ever else this guy is."

Riku sighed, walking towards Thorn and raising his pistol as he looked into the thug's eyes. There was a pleading look in them, but Riku was unable to tell whether they were begging to be spared or to just get it over with. Riku pulled the trigger.

The shot hit him right between the eyes, and Riku watched as the thug crumpled with a puddle of blood surrounding his head. He turned to see Axel clapping.

"Congragulations. You just made your first kill."

Riku raised his P99 at Axel. "Now tell me what happened."

Axel sighed. "I dropped out of college here because I couldn't afford to pay the bill. I spent a few months on the street, looking for a job. I was desparate, I even became a giggalo for a while."

Axel paused. "Then, one of my clients, Larxene, took pity on me. Which is bizarre considering how most of the time she's a heartless bitch. She bought me out of that life and introduced me to Zexion, who offered me a job as Vice President for his software front in exchange for helping him in his terrorist plots and becoming a member of the Organization."

Riku raised a brow. "What organization?"

"Not important."

"Of course it is! You're implying that there's more of you!"

Axel smirked. "I didn't imply anything. Tell you what..."

Axel jumped down and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a slip of paper.

"Take it," he said.

Riku hesitantly grabbed the slip and quickly read through it.

**You are invited to a formal gathering at Zexion Chaolan's mansion.**

**This invitation allows you and one other person access, but must be shown at the front gates.**

"You can bring your lady friend," Axel teased. "She's pretty cute."

Riku gave Axel an incredulous look. "Why the hell are you inviting me to this?"

"Think of it as an opprotunity to get ahead in the game," Axel said nonchalantly. "But I should warn you, my Organization doesn't play fair."

Axel laughed as he disappeared through a dark portal, leaving a perturbed Riku standing on the rooftop, clutching the invitation.

**Reverse**

"Are we there yet?"

Everyone aboard the gummiship groaned.

"No Deadpool," groaned Sora. "For the 30th _fucking _time, we are not there yet."

"Oh, okay."

A brief silence followed, where Sora let out a relived sigh as he let his guard down.

"Are we there yet?"

Spoony grabbed one of Deadpool's pistols from a control console and unloaded it into Deadpool. Even he was annoyed by Deadpool's childish behavior.

"Ow!" he exclaimed defensively. "Just because I have an advanced healing factor, that doesn't mean getting shot doesn't hurt."

"I thought you said you were used to it?" Spoony mocked.

"Yeah, used to getting stabbed, shot, mutilated, poisoned..."

Three hours have passed and Deadpool was still listing off various fatal injuries he was able to survive. Sora was resting his head against the captain's chair, praying that the Merc with a Mouth would eventually shut up, while Spoony's eye was twitching. Naminé however, was still piloting the ship, seemingly tuning out Deadpool.

"...Castrated, blown up, shot repeatedly by Rorschach in that one web series..."

"AHHHHHH!" Spoony lost it. "ARE WE THERE YET!?"

"Yes," Naminé said brightly.

Outside the cockpit, the four of them could see the city of Radiant Garden below them. Straight ahead was the castle of Hollow Bastion. The castle looked old and decrepit, but also looked steampunk in nature, adding a somewhat unnerving feeling to the overall atmosphere of the place.

"Alright, the Committee said they would have a landing party waiting for us at the base of Hollow Bastion," Sora said. "There they are."

A group of people were standing in front of the entry way to the castle, several of them waving. The gummiship carefully landed on a circular platform, then exited the ship to greet their employers.

Sora grinned. "Hey, how's it going?"

None of the Committee members responded.

"Um...where can I find the leader of this group?"

"You want to speak to Auron, ya?"

A young man with red hair spiked up in the front and a boy about Sora's age with wavy blond hair made their way to the mercenaries.

"The name's Wakka, mon," the callicked man greeted.

"And I'm Tidus," the blond boyu said proudly. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes-"

"I've only known you for two seconds and I already want to utterly slaughter both of you," Spoony said in a venomous tone. "I despise you both with the intensity of ten thousand suns, and if I have to put up with you two longer than I have to, I will butcher both of you with an honest to God smile on my face and feed your entrails to whatever dangerous predators exist in this part of the world as I incinerate both of your corpses and dance on your ashes for two years straight."

A stunned silence hung in the air as everyone stared at Spoony in disturbed disbelief.

"Looks like the rage he expressed in his Final Fantasy X review is starting to catch up to him in this fic," Deadpool said.

"Whoa, take it easy man," Tidus said worriedly, waving his hands. "We don't want any trouble..."

"Wakka! Tidus! What are you two doing?"

The Committee made way for a new person approaching the SeeD students, and Sora's eyes widened as the person drew closer.

It was a girl. Probably the most attractive girl he's ever seen. She had shoulder length red hair, smooth, creamy skin, and wore some pink dress that had zippers all around it and a hood on the back that perfectly fitted her petite figure. Her eyes were probably what caught Sora off guard the most. He couldn't tell whether they were a dark blue or a shade of violet, but as soon as he found them, he didn't want to look away.

"So, which one of you is the squad leader?" the girl asked.

Spoony shoved Sora forward, who cleared his throat.

"I-I am," he answered nervously.

The girl smiled and held out her hand for Sora to shake. "I'm Kairi Hikaru, second-in-command of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee."

Sora grinned and shook Kairi's hand, feeling his insides freeze up as he touched her flesh.

"Sora Fair."

Kairi's eyes widened. "You're Zack's son?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "How do you-?"

"Auron's been wondering when he was going to meet you," Kairi said excitedly. "Right this way."

**Rebirth**

"I still think it's a trap."

Riku sighed as he put the virus infected flashdrive back on the desk and walked towards the mirror, tightening his belt as he walked.

"Of course it's a trap," he said as he finished buttoning up his white dress shirt. "But hopefully we can skirt around it and use this as an opprotunity to catch this son of a bitch."

"If you say so," Xion called from the bathroom. "But do I really have to wear this?"

"You're the one who picked it out!"

"I know, but now that I'm actually wearing it, I don't know if it's too much or what."

"Let me see," Riku said.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Riku's jaw dropped as low as it could possibly go.

Xion looked stunning. She was wearing a backless, sea salt blue dress with a neckline that didn't plunge too far down but still left enough of her chest exposed to distract any man (or woman) that came into contact with her. She wore seashell earings and kept her raven hair down, and her face had no traces of too much makeup, in fact if Riku didn't know better, he'd say that Xion wasn't wearing makeup. Not that she needed it. _At all. _

"Wow," Riku said. "You look...um, _wow._"

Xion smiled. "What, you've never seen a girl in a dress before?"

"I have," Riku chuckled. "But I've never been rendered speechless by one."

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself."

Xion raised an eyebrow. "How come you're not wearing the bowtie?"

Riku groaned. "I don't do ties. _Especially_ bowties."

Xion tisked. "Come on, we need you to look classy."

"I can pull off classy without the damn tie."

"Riku, every other man will be wearing a tuxedo _with_ a bowtie."

"Sorry, but I'm not a conformist." Riku smirked.

Xion grabbed the bowtie off the dresser while Riku wasn't looking and put on a seductive smile.

"You know, I always found men going against society's standards to be..._arousing._"

She purred the last word. Riku looked over at Xion in surprise.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Xion was getting closer to Riku. He wanted to move out of the way and remind Xion that they were supposed to try to be friends, but at the same time he wanted to just stand there and let Xion do whatever she wanted to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned towards his ear. Riku shivered, hoping Xion wouldn't notice.

"Why is it that a woman has to use a man's lust to get him to do what she wants?" she whispered.

"Umm...X-Xion?" Riku stuttered.

"Shh, it's okay. I'll be gentle."

Riku felt his throat tighten. Then, Xion let go of him and stepped back smiling in triumph. Riku looked down at his neck to see the bowtie tied perfectly around it.

"There. Now you look like you belong in that party," she said triumphantly.

Riku opened his mouth and closed it. He chose not to respond and instead opted to put on his dinner jacket and walk to the hotel room door, opening it and holding it open.

"After you."

Xion grinned and walked towards the door and cupped Riku's chin.

"Why, thank you darling."

She then went down the hall to the elevator, leaving Riku looking after her in stupified disbelief.

"What the fu-"

**Deadpool: Alright, sorry to cut off right there, but it's time for a new segment I like to call... Deadpool's Wheel. Of. Torture!**

**An audience gave thunderous applause and wolf whistled and cheered on the merc with a mouth, who gave a humble bow and blew kisses into the crowd. **

**Deadpool: Alright, Alright, settle down folks. Now, not alot of you readers out there have been reviewing this story recently. I mean, come on. Stories on this site thrive on reviews, and reading a story without reviewing is like eating at a restaurant without paying the bill. And I know, I know, the author acknowledges that he doesn't review many stories himself, making him a hypocrite, but he wishes to change that in exchange for reviews for his own stories. I, however, found that not to be as fun, so I tied him up and locked him in the broom closet in the hallway. I tried bribing him by trying to hook him up with Emma Frost, but she said to wait for about 10 years.**

**A screen shows footage from the closet with Project Deathstar tied up in rope kicking at the door. **

**Project Deathstar: Wade! Get me out of here right now or I'll get Cable! Or Rorschach. Whoever will hurt you the most!**

**Deadpool: (laughs) What a card. But anyway, in order to get you guys to review, in this segment, everytime a new chapter gets posted, I kidnap and tie up two well known and loved Kingdom Hearts characters, and have a guest spin the wheel to decide the method of torture used. The characters can only be saved if people review. So let's introduce our victims for today! **

**The audience cheered as a spotlight shown on a red curtain. **

**Deadpool: Behind this curtain are two characters with more fangirls than any other character in this franchise combined. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Riku and Axel!**

**The curtain is lifted to reveal Riku and Axel tied to chairs, struggling to get free. The crowd cheers even harder. **

**Riku: What the hell am I doing here?**

**Axel: Let us go you psycho!**

**Deadpool: (laughs) No. Anyway, my wheel spinning guest today is someone who is well known for taking pleasure in causing pain to people he doesn't like. I give you... Vegeta, prince of the Saiyans!**

**Vegeta is standing next to the torture wheel and glares as the crowd cheers. **

**Vegeta: This sounds suspiciously alot like the stupid Ginyus' show. **

**Deadpool: Come on, man! I know you love cold blooded torture! **

**Vegeta smirks.**

**Vegeta: You bet your ass I do! **

**Vegeta spins the wheel and it lands on 24 hours straight of listening to mashups of Rebecca Black and Nikki Minaj. **

**Riku and Axel's eyes widen. **

**Riku: No...**

**Axel: Please! Not that!**

**Deadpool pulls out a boombox. **

**Deadpool: Alright folks, you know what to do. Start leaving reviews, and you might be able to save these poor guys' sanities. It's all up to you. **

**Vegeta: This is going to be good. **

**Deadpool and Vegeta laugh as Riku and Axel start screaming. **

**A/N: But seriously, can you pllllleeeeaaasssseee review? It gets lonely without them :(**


	8. Chapter 8: Auron Explains Some of It

**Deadpool looks at two slips of paper while resting in an armchair. **

**Deadpool: Nearly seven months and only two new reviews?! Oh well, I guess that's expected when you only have seven chapters and haven't even reached the halfway point of the story. Then again, Shawn Meets his Match has ninety reviews and only five chapters so far. I mean, of course Benedict Cumberbatch has amazing cheek bones and makes a good young Ricardo Montalban, but come on, who doesn't want to read a story about their favorite KH characters as spies, mercenaries, and super soldiers with good ol' me thrown into the mix?**

**Project Deathstar: Deadpool!**

**Deadpool: Oh hey, there's the author himself! How you doin' man?**

**Project Deathstar: You left me locked in a closet and tortured Riku and Axel for SEVEN MONTHS!**

**Deadpool: Oh yeah, I knew I was forgeting something. Let me go check on those guys real quick.**

**Deadpool leaves and comes back after ten minutes. **

**Deadpool: Yeah, they're catatonic. **

**Project Deathstar: WHAT?!**

**Deadpool: Well, that's what seven months of Rebecca Black and Niki Minaj will do to a person. **

**Project Deathstar: I distinctly remember you saying that they would only have to listen to 24 hours worth!**

**Deadpool: That was before you failed to update this story in months!**

**Project Deathstar: But I need to continue the story! How can I do that when two of the main characters are catatonic?!**

**Deadpool: I think I know a guy that can wake them up while you write about Sora in this chapter. **

**Project Deathstar: Okay, fine. Just make it quick!**

**Deadpool: Aye, aye captain!**

**Deadpool gives the author a salute as he runs out of the room, leaving Project Deathstar to sit down at the computer. **

**Project Deathstar: Now, where did I leave off? Oh yeah. **

Chapter 8

Sora couldn't get the look of awe off his face as he and his commrades were given a tour of the castle.

He always had a fascination with architecture, and the steampunk meets gothic nature of Hollow Bastion definitely took the cake for the coolest architecture he's seen.

Kairi was giving details about the different sections of the castle that they explored while Sora and his friends followed. Namine seemed to be getting along with Kairi, excitedly asking about the various pieces of art they came across traversing the castle. Tidus and Wakka were walking as far back as possible, still scared of Spoony, who was glaring daggers at them, and Sora couldn't help but notice Deadpool's absence. Not knowing what this might entail, he immediately spoke up.

"Hey, uh, Kairi?"

Kairi turned to Sora. "Yes?"

"One of the members of my group is missing," Sora explained. "And he's a little... unstable, so..."

"You mean the man in the red and black jumpsuit, ya?" Wakka asked. "He said somethin' about going to do an errand for the author and finding either Doctor Strange or a chimichunga chef. He then just teleported out of here."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Okay, carry on."

Kairi smiled and continued on with the tour, and as they reached the Lift Shop and boarded a lift, she went into detail about the castle's defense system.

"Hollow Bastion's security system is considered the best in the world, with all of the turrets and the shields automatically controlled by the main computer of Hollow Bastion," Kairi explained. "It is also unhackable, therefore making it nearly impossible to shut down from the outside."

"What if somebody does find a way to shut it down?" Spoony inquired.

"If that scenario ever occurs, our soldiers are more than prepared to defend the castle," Kairi answered. "After all, they were trained by the best."

"You mean Auron, right?" Sora said.

"He mentored alot of the more fameous SOLDIERs while he was a student, including your father, Cloud Strife, and You Know Who."

Once they reached the first floor, the group exited the lift and headed through the Entry Hall. Kairi led them to a door on the right, and the mercenaries' eyes widened at what they saw.

It was the biggest library they've ever seen. Rows upon rows of bookshelves occupied every inch of space within the room, seemingly holding books about every subject in existance, ranging from history, to medical science, to warfare, and every piece of literary fiction that Sora was familiar with and then some.

As they climbed the stairs to the second floor of the library, Kairi stopped at a table occupied by a grey haired man clad in red, who was currently writing something down on paper.

"Auron, the SeeDs have arrived," Kairi said. "And their squad leader is Zack Fair's son."

This caused the man to look up in suprise. He turned to Sora and grinned.

"Well well," Auron said. "If it isn't puppy jr. in the flesh. Zack never shut up about you, always telling us about the things you did as a tyke."

Sora was suprised at this comment. "He did?"

"Yup."

Auron then stood and turned to Wakka and Tidus.

"You two lead the other SeeDs to their rooms. Sora, I want you to stay here. You too, Kairi."

Tidus and Wakka did as told and escorted the remaining SeeDs out of the library, leaving Sora alone with the gruff warrior and the pretty redhead.

"You have your father's eyes," Auron noted.

"Yeah, I get that alot," Sora said.

Kairi walked up closer to Sora, her indigo eyes boring into his bright blue ones.

"They're beautiful," Kairi commented.

Sora blushed. "Um, thanks. Yours too."

Kairi smiled at the compliment while Auron cleared his throat.

"Do you know why you're here, Sora?"

"I was simply told that you guys needed some extra security," Sora shrugged.

"That's only half of it," Auron said. "Follow me."

Auron then walked over to an alcove and reached into it behind an occupying statue. Sora guessed he must have pulled some kind of lever, because after Auron retracted his hand, the alcove sank into the ground and revealed a staircase heading up. The three of them climbed up the stairs and entered a large office, with a balcony behind the desk, giving a view of the Radiant Garden landscape below.

Sora looked around the office and noticed that the shelves housed orbs instead of books.

"What are-"

"In a minute," Auron interupted. "First, I need you to see this."

He walked out onto the balcony, followed by Sora, while Kairi remained behind in the office.

"Look down there, and tell me what you see."

Sora looked down into the valley, and almost stumbled over the railing in suprise.

In the valley, there were thousands of the same dark creatures that attacked Sora and his friends in the same cave he recieved his keyblade, plus other various types of monsters that Sora saw on the news and documentaries about the Radiant Garden attacks.

"They just stand there, day after day, waiting for a breach in our security and a chance to attack."

"What are they?" Sora asked.

"We call them the Heartless," Auron explained. "They're savage monsters that only want to kill and maim. They're incapable of reason, free thought, and there's only one thing they truly fear."

"What?"

"It's strapped to your back."

Sora pulled out his keyblade and inspected it.

"A keyblade is the only weapon that can truly kill a Heartless," Auron continued. "Any other weapon would only dispel it, causing it to respawn after a while. But a keyblade is the only weapon that can send them back to hell where they belong. That's why they constantly search for the seven keys, hoping to destroy it before it destroys them."

"But why are they surrounding the castle like this?" Sora asked.

Auron shifted his eyes.

"You found one?" Sora asked, eyes widening.

"Well, not necessarily, but we know that one's hidden here in this castle." Auron admitted.

"How?"

"According to legend, when the chosen seven are in close proximity to a resting keyblade, they all share similar dreams in a location called a Station of Awakening." Auron explained.

Sora nodded. That explained why he, Riku, and Roxas all shared that dream on their first night at Shinra.

"So, you have one of the chosen seven in the Committee?" Sora asked.

Auron nodded.

"Who?" Sora prodded.

Auron shook his head in the direction of his office, where Kairi was looking through a series of orbs on the shelves. Sora immediately made the connection.

"Her?"

"When her parents died and I took her in, she came to me on her first night here and told me about a dream she had. Everything she described matched what was said to occur in the legends."

Sora continued to observe Kairi. "So you need me to help you find the keyblade hidden in the castle."

"It is extremely important that we find it," Auron said. "The whole reason Xehanort tried to take over fourteen years ago was to get his hands on the keyblade here and the other seven spread across the world. Your father sacrificed his life to make sure that couldn't happen. But there are more people than just Xehanort after the keyblades. There have been rumors of an organization traveling across the globe and committing acts of terrorism to extort information about the keyblades. If the rumors are true, then we must find the keyblades before they can."

Auron opened the door leading back to the office. "We'll have dinner first, then you and Kairi can look through the castle for the keyblade."

Auron smirked. "It would be a good chance for her to get to know you."

Sora felt the familiar blush burn his face as he walked back into the office.

**Deadpool: Okay, I got the guy. **

**Doctor Strange: Alright, where are they?**

**Project Deathstar: Over there.**

**Deadpool leads Doctor Strange over to Riku and Axel's catatonic bodies while Project Deathstar turns to the readers. **

**Project Deathstar: I'd like to greatly apologize for the long time it took for me to get back to this story. This is kind of a breather/exposition chapter in order for me to get back in the swing of remembering what this story is about and to further think about future chapters. I assure you that this story will not be abandoned and it is far from over. **

**Thank you guys for your continued support and keep on reading :)**


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